Postcards From Far Away
by TimeLady-12
Summary: Rachael had never considered herself special in any way. But when she wakes up in Middle Earth after a car accident, she ends up on a journey to reclaim a homeland while trying to find a way to get back to her own. Kili/OC
1. The Beginning Of It All

Rachael groaned. It was bad enough that she was being forced to go shopping with her family, but she was also being forced to get up at the crack of dawn. Living and working on a farm, she was used to this, but today was her day off and she'd been looking forward to a nice lie-in.

Her mother had come to her the previous day and basically guilt-tripped her into going into Glasgow with her family, saying that she didn't spend enough time with them. Rachael didn't understand that; she worked with her family day in, day out. How was that not enough time? Glasgow wasn't even that far away from where she lived. Only about half an hour to forty minutes by car. An hour if the traffic was bad.

Rachael lived on a farm on the outskirts of Balloch in Scotland, near Loch Lomond. Balloch wasn't a particularly big town, but it was big enough. Situated on the edge of the loch, it was a key area for tourists, and Rachael was ever thankful that their farm was far enough away that they were undisturbed. She still lived with her parents, despite the fact that she was eighteen and everyone else her age was now going off to university. Not that she minded. Her parents needed help on the farm, and they'd been struggling for money lately. Her younger sister, having just turned fifteen, was still too young to help and was just starting her exams. Not that you'd know. Her sister was one of the smartest people that Rachael knew, and she had no doubt that it would take minimal effect for her to ace every single one of them.

Her older brother, who was twenty-two, now had a permanent job on the farm. But even with him, her mother and her father working there, there was still too much to do, resulting in another reason why Rachael had to stay.

But today, apparently her mother had decided that her children needed a break, and as Rachael crawled out of bed, she hated her mum for it. Her sister Paige however, had not stopped talking about their shopping trip for the entire night. It was a rare thing to go into a city and go shopping, especially for her family, but Paige's excitement was too much to bare, and Rachael had had to retreat to her room to escape the never ending giggling.

Rachael's father Craig McKay had met her mother Maisie Piper who was at the age of nineteen, her dad being twenty-three at that time, and it had been 'love at first sight'. At least, that was what her dad had said. He'd been working on the farm with his family, incidentally the same one Rachael now lived at (it being a family business after all), and had gone into Balloch to do some trading. Her mother had gone to the town with her own family, they'd met at the farmers market that had been on that weekend, and they'd been together ever since. And now, at the ages of forty-three and forty-seven, they were still going strong. Rachael had never seen a couple so in love, even if it did make her slightly sick at times with the way they acted.

Finally managing to drag herself out of bed, she shuffled out of her room (banging her arm into the door and mumbling some choice curse words as she did so) and across the hallway into the bathroom, duvet dragging behind her as she huddled into it for warmth. It was the beginning of autumn, a few weeks after the summer holidays, and there was beginning to be a little bit of a chill in the air.

Looking in the mirror as she brushed her teeth, she winced as she saw the state of her hair. Her thick, bright red curls that hung half way down her back were all tangled into knots that would hopefully come out in the shower, and she had faint rings under her blue-green eyes. She wouldn't class herself as pretty (although her dad always referred to her as 'daddy's pretty little princess'; a name that never ceased to embarrass her to this day), and she didn't exactly have much male attention as she was either at school and focusing on her work, or working at the farm.

Stripping, she stepped into the shower and smiled at the hot water that slightly burnt her skin. _There is no better feeling than this first thing in the morning, _she thought to herself as she washed her hair with her favourite raspberry shampoo and conditioner. Feeling more relaxed than she had done in a few weeks, Rachael was just about to turn off the shower when she heard someone shouting and knocking on the bathroom door.

"Rachael! Hurry up, will you?! You'll use up all the hot water!" Rolling her eyes at her brother (who took more care in his appearance than she did), she turned the shower off and wrapped a towel around herself.

"Calm down, Aidan. I'm out." She replied, bundling up her things while simultaneously trying to make sure her towel didn't fall down as she opened the door. "Jesus. Someone would think that you've never had a shower." She made a point of sniffing the air. "And judging by the smell of you, that seems about right." Laughing, and ducking out of the way of the hand that had tried to hit her around the head, she shuffled back into her room and dumped her things unceremoniously onto her bed.

Not even bothering to dress up (_what was the point_, she thought. _It's only shopping.), _Rachael pulled on the first set of underwear she could grab her hand on, along with her black 'I'm not a princess, I'm a Khaleesi' t-shirt, a black pair of leggings, a red checked shirt and a burgundy pair of Dr. Martins. _Nice and casual¸_ she thought.

Deciding to just leave her hair to air dry, and never one to wear make-up, Rachael trudged downstairs. She could already hear the voices of her mother and sister talking about things that she had no doubt would not interest her.

"Good morning, darling." Said her mother, standing up and putting a plate down in her place on the table. Whenever they had a day off, her mother always made them a full English breakfast; bacon, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, hash browns, baked beans and black pudding. It was a nice treat this early in the morning.

"Morning mum." She replied through a mouth full of egg and bacon, earning her a look from her mother. She made a point of swallowing loudly. "When are we going?"

"As soon as we've finished here and your dad's ready. Which should be any time now." Nodding, Rachael wolfed down the rest of her breakfast, knowing that once her father and brother came down, they'd want to leave as soon as possible. They always seemed to be in a rush, even if it was half past eight in the morning. It wasn't even that early anymore, but Rachael still felt tired. And Aidan stomping down the stairs certainly wasn't helping the headache that was forming.

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><p>Cramming into the car was never fun. Her brother was rather muscley and took up half of the room in the back seat, and her sister (who sat in the middle) didn't seem to understand the concept that other people needed space as well and took up the other half. This, by default, left Rachael crammed up against the window, forced with nothing to do but stare out of it and listen to her iPod.<p>

The sky seemed to be clouding over, and looked ominously like rain. Rachael didn't mind this, she'd worked in the rain enough, but wet through and trudging through shops that didn't interest her didn't seem like an eventful way to spend her day.

"Will you cheer up?" Paige asked, yanking her earphones out as they entered the city. "We're going shopping! Think of all the things we can buy!"

"With what?" Rachael asked. "With all of my money I don't have?"

"It's not my fault you've spent it all, you know. You spend most of it on books and clothes that say things that make no sense. I mean, what the hell is a 'Khaleesi'?"

Resisting the urge to snap back at her sister, Rachael sighed and banged her head against the window.

"Paige is right, Rach." Said her mother. "You should cheer up. Enjoy spending time with your family. You spend far too much time with your nose stuck in a book."

"I like spending time with my nose in a book. It's a lot more interesting than most things here." She scrolled through her songs, finding a particularly good one and turned the volume up, drowning everything else out. She had got this argument for years. Her parents constantly told her that she spent too much time reading, and not nearly enough time socializing. She bit back by saying she spent enough time socializing and rewarded herself with reading. The argument just went around and around in circles, and her parents had long ago learned to leave her to it.

It was only a few more minutes when her father pulled into a virtually full car park in the middle of Glasgow. Rachael made a point to get out of the car as slowly as possible.

"For God's sake, Rachael. Get out of the car." Said Aidan, walking around and pulling her up.

"Fine. I'm out. I'm out." It was just starting to rain when she got out of the car, and Rachael cursed herself for not bringing a coat. Maybe she could hide in HMV or something.

"So, where do we want to go first?" her mother asked. Rachael rolled her eyes as Paige listed about fifty shops that she wanted to go to. "Right…well, your father and I are going to go and look at some new phones. My contract's nearly expired… and Aidan is meeting up with some of his friends. So, Rachael, you can go with your sister."

Rachael stared at her mum with her mouth hanging open. "But…mum…I hate the shops Paige goes into! Why can't I go off by myself?"

"Because I don't want your or your sister getting lost on your own in this place. Now, we'll meet up around…" she looked at her watch. "Half twelve by that coffee shop over there?"

"Awesome!" squealed Paige, already backing towards the main high street. "We'll see you then! Come on Rach!"  
>Grumbling to herself, Rachael couldn't believe her luck. How was it better if they got lost together? They'd still be lost! Add that to no money, and stuck with her sister for an morning. This ought to be fun.<p>

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><p>By the end of the morning, Rachael had to admit that she'd had a good time. Paige had dragged her into countless shops, and having taking pity on her moneyless self, had bought her sister a pair of inner fur-lined boots and a brand new set of oil paints that she loved. They'd stopped to have lunch in the coffee shop they'd met up at, and had a coffee at Costa (the Costa coffee was much nicer than any other). Her mum had even bought her a chocolate brownie.<p>

After lunch, they'd split up again, but this time Rachael left with Aidan, who thankfully liked the same shops as she did. They spent at least forty five minutes in HMV, and Rachael didn't even complain when Aidan dragged her around half a dozen gaming shops, opting to put her on her new boots and break them in.

"Did you meet up with your friends?" she asked as he put yet another game into his 'maybe' pile.

"Erm…yea, I did." Rachael didn't fail to notice the blush that spread over her brothers face.

"Why've you gone all red there, Aid?" She poked his cheek with her pinky finger. "Has somebody got a girlfriend?" she teased.

"She's not my girlfriend." Aidan snapped. "But…I do like her."

"Aidan!" Rachael squealed, grinning. "Oh my god! I was only joking! But this is great! What's she like? What's she called? Is she nice? Is she pretty?"

"Honestly Rach, sometimes I swear you're as bad as Paige." Aidan chuckled.

"Is it my fault that I like seeing my brother happy? Besides, Paige is just…in another league."

"True. But if you must know…" they walked to the cashier. "…her name is Freya, and she recently started at the university here. I met her when she visited Balloch the other week. And yes, she's a nice person, and so beautiful." Rachael's grin widened at the, what she would describe, dreamy look on her brothers face. _They are _so_ going to fall in love and get married_, she thought. Rachael didn't consider herself a sappy, romantic person, but seeing the happy look that had overcome her brothers face, she couldn't help those thoughts that swam through her mind.

"Well," said Rachael, as they walked out of the shop. "It's good to see you so happy. You'll have to introduce her to the family!"

Aidan groaned. "God, no. Remember the last time I took a girlfriend home? Dad gave her a tour around the farm and a goat chased her around a field. It took her half an hour to calm down, and when she did, she never called me back."

"Aidan, you were fifteen. Are you seriously still caught up on that?"

"Hey! That goat has had it out for me since the day I accidently pulled his beard." He pulled his hood up over his head as the rain came down harder than before. Rachael envied him and glared at the smug look he sent her as he took in her damp hair.

"Yes, but it wasn't you the goat took it out on. That poor girl is probably traumatized for life! And I highly doubt that will happen again."

Rachael smirked when her brother decided not to reply, and instead headed back to the car park where they'd agreed to meet before going home. Somehow, today had not ended up being so bad, and she found that she was actually looking forward to the next time they did this.

"Oh, good!" said Rachael's mother when they walked up to the car. "We thought you'd got lost. I was just about to ring you. Got everything you needed?"

"Yep. Are we going now? I'm getting soaked." The light(ish) rain that had been falling a few minutes ago had long since passed, and now it was absolutely tipping it down. Faint sounds of thunder could be heard from the distance and people around them were running around for any sign of shelter.

Cramming into the back seat (which was now even more cramped due to the mountains of shopping bags her sister had bought; how she afforded it, Rachael had no idea), Rachael threw her original shoes into the boot of the car and plugged her music back in, setting her songs on shuffle.

Rachael couldn't even see out of the window as they were driving down the country lanes on the way back to their farm. They couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes away from getting back, but just as the song changed to one of her favourites, none of her family expected the car to skid off the side of the road after turning around a particularly tight bend.

Rachael's head banged repeatedly against the glass of the window as the car tumbled further and further down the ditch that had unfortunately been at the side of the road, and she could feel the multiple shopping bags tumbling around at her feet, the contents flying everywhere.

It felt like hours before the car eventually came to a stop, and as it crashed into what seemed like the biggest tree around for miles, Rachael's body was thrust forward as her head snapped forwards into the drivers seat.

Rain was still pouring down the sides of the car as she turned her eyes to outside the window. She could feel something warm drip down the side of her face, and her entire body ached. Her arm felt broken and as her vision became spotted and blackened, Rachael could swear she heard somebody shout her name as a huge bolt of lightning flashed across the sky.

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><p><strong>And so we have chapter one of my new story. Chapter two should be any time in the near future, so wait in suspense, as I know you'll all be doing…<strong>

**Let me know what you think via favourites and reviews!**


	2. Orcs and Dwarves

It felt like Rachael had been unconscious for months when she finally came to. Her body ached a hundred times worse than it did before she passed out, and it took a lot of effort just to crack her eyes open. When she finally did, Rachael nearly had a heart attack to add to everything else. She was in…well, she didn't know where she was.

She'd woken up in a clearing surrounded by trees with a small stream flowing just a few metres to the side of her. She seemed to be lying on a very soft patch of grass, although she felt something hard digging into her back; she presumed it was some form of branch from one of the trees.

Groaning, Rachael pushed herself up, biting her lip and wincing when she put strain on her arm. It wasn't broken like she'd originally thought (_thank God!_, she thought), but it still hurt like hell. Deciding against standing up just yet, maybe it was the fact that she would probably fall over if she did, Rachael pushed herself backwards until she was leaning against a tree.

Taking a proper look around, Rachael ended up freaking herself out even further. She was nowhere that she recognized, and that was saying something. She knew nearly all of the land around where she lived for miles; it had become a constant habit of hers to sneak out with a book and sit in a tree somewhere for hours on end.

But the trees here were different, and they looked like the leaves were only just growing whereas the leaves at home were beginning to fall. She didn't recognize the stream at all, and the songs that the birds were singing were entirely unfamiliar. You didn't get bird songs like that in Scotland.

So, this all raised the question: where the hell was she? And where was her family? She'd been in a car crash, hadn't she? They were almost home… Trying to regain some control over her breathing, Rachael pushed herself up onto her feet, balancing herself on the tree trunk as she almost toppled over. Her family had to be around here somewhere. They'd crashed into a tree…maybe she'd been flown out of the car and landed here somehow? But she could have sworn that she was still in the car when they had stopped crashing.

Walking (rather shakily, but walking all the same) over to the stream, Rachael knelt down and splashed some water onto her face, smiling at how the coolness washed over her skin. It seemed like a complete opposite to the hot shower she'd had that morning. But was it that morning? Looking up at the sky, it looked to be late morning, perhaps early afternoon at a push. It didn't even seem like a storm had ever hit this place. The grass seemed bone dry, the stream not even indicating that it had ever flooded. So how long had she been lying there?

Her stomach growling seemed to answer that question. When was it since she'd last eaten? Was it really back at the coffee shop? Right now, that seemed like ages ago. Glancing around, it didn't seem like there was anything to eat here. No berries, no nuts, nothing. She didn't even have any weapons to catch any animals, not that she'd know what to do with it if she ever caught one. On the farm, her father had trained her on how to ride the tractors, milk the cows, tend to the fields. Not once had she had anything to do with the meat part of the farm. Partly because that wasn't the main business of their farm…but that was beside the point. It didn't help her situation right now.

Standing up again, Rachael frowned. She had to admit, she was loathe to leave this place. Perhaps someone was coming to find her, and she had left? What if she got lost and couldn't find another water supply? For she was certain that she was probably miles away from her home, and it didn't look as though there was any other sign of civilization. But how would she know unless she moved?

Sure she was making the wrong decision, but not knowing what else to do, Rachael saw a gap through the trees on the other side of the clearing. Limping over (she'd injured not only her arm, but pulled something in her leg in the crash, it seemed) to the gap, Rachael changed a glance down at herself.

The clothes that she had put on seemed relatively intact, excluding the mud that was on the bottom of her shirt. She was glad to see that her new boots still looked basically clean, but was sad to remember that her old shoes that she had taken off were not here. _They must still be in the car_, she thought to herself, _along with my new art supplies._

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><p>Not believing her luck, Rachael traipsed through the seemingly never-ending forest, cursing every time she stumbled or banged her arm against a sticking out branch. She was right when she figured out that she was lost. There was no sign of any car crash, nor any sign of her family either. Which made Rachael increasingly worried. Maybe she'd walked the wrong way?<p>

But where were they? Were they okay? Had they even survived the crash? It seemed to Rachael like it had been pretty bad; the memories of it had been flooding back the further she walked. Skidding off of the road, tumbling further and further down the ditch, crashing into the tree. She remembered the blood that had dripped down her face, and someone yelling her name, and now she was sure that that voice was her mother. Or was it? The voice was muffled, but Rachael was certain it had been a female's voice. Thinking about it just made her confused. Why hadn't her family come to look for her? Unless they were all…no. She refused to think about that possibility. Her family would be fine. They were strong, nothing would have happened to them. Nothing _could _happen to them.

And that was when another possibility came to her. What if_ she_ had died? What if this was heaven, although it seemed like a bit of a cheapskate version of heaven if it was. Wouldn't there be food in heaven? But if she had died, and her family had lived, what were they thinking now? Were they mourning her? Was her body still there, because her body right now seemed fairly real.

Kicking a rock with frustration, Rachael growled and cursed at the pain that now flared up her leg. Would nothing go right today? She was never going to get out of this place. She was going to starve and end up in a pathetic position as she lay dying on the forest floor. _Great, _she thought. _It's only been a few hours in this place, and I'm already having these thoughts_. Trying to snap out of her thoughts, Rachael started humming the theme tune from Doctor Who, it being the first thing that came to mind. It seemed to help calm her down, and it almost felt as if she was back in the woods behind her house.

But it wasn't the woods behind her house, and deep down, Rachael couldn't forget that. So after only about two hours of trudging through the forest, still seeing no sign of edible food, she decided to call it a day.

Not wanting to stay on the forest floor (she had no idea what was lurking in these woods. There could be wolves or anything, and she thought herself lucky she hadn't seen anything as of yet), Rachael glanced around for a tree she was able to climb. She wasn't sure how cold the nights got here, and she was once again cursing herself for not taking a coat with her.

Jumping up and grabbing onto the lowest branch (making sure to not let go as flash of pain flared up her arm), Rachael pulled herself up and found a thick branch that she (hopefully) wouldn't fall off of.

Looking around from a higher vantage point also didn't help her situation either. All she could see was trees, and she'd completely lost track of where the stream was, just as she'd feared would happen by leaving the clearing. Wishing that she'd had a water bottle that she'd filled up, Rachael laid down as best she could on the branch, fatigue from the days events finally setting in.

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><p>The following morning, Rachael had almost forgotten that she was in the middle of nowhere, and it wasn't until she almost fell down the tree that she remembered. <em>Maybe today I'll find a way out of here, <em>she thought ominously.

Trying not to put too much strain on her body (although thankfully it ached less than it did the previous day) , Rachael carefully climbed back down the tree and landed on the ground. She was surprised at how long she had slept- the sun seemed quite high up- and as she walked away from her resting place (_honestly_, she thought, _that makes it sound like I've died or something…resting place)_ she was reminded of how little she'd eaten since she'd ended up here. i.e. nothing. What she wouldn't give for a Big Mac right now…

Rachael had hoped that she would have a clearer mind today, that she would have a sudden epiphany on how to get out of the forest, because right now, her plan was: walk straight in a certain direction, the edge of the forest must come sooner or later. However that plan didn't seem like the best one. This forest might be huge. It could take weeks to reach the other side, especially at her pace…so…what to do?

Rachael estimated that it was around two or three o'clock in the afternoon when she managed to find a river, or the same stream just further down…she didn't know, but she was thankful for the water supply. Walking was thirsty work.

Kneeling down, Rachael took huge gulps of water, wincing at how cold the water seemed now. Although there were small fish in the water here, so she decided to take a break and watch them swim around for a while. They seemed so peaceful, swimming around like they didn't have a care in the world, playing with their little fishy friends. And thinking about it, Rachael assumed that they probably didn't have a care in the world. Ah…the life of a fish…

It wasn't until a few minutes later that something happened. Rachael was still kneeling beside the river when she heard a twig snap behind her. Furrowing her eyebrows, she stood up slowly and turned around, expecting perhaps a deer, maybe at a push a large rabbit. What she saw, however, made her feel as if she was about to be sick. Standing in front of her was three large…_things._ They were unlike anything that she had seen before. They stood as tall as a man (making her feel very small. She was cursing herself for not being taller and therefore more 'menacing'), and looked humanoid in essence, but that was about it.

Their skin looked like a sickly green-grey colour, their teeth looked like they were filed into points as they snarled, staples and piercings covered their faces and Rachael didn't even want to think about what kind of bones decorated their clothing. But that wasn't the most worrying thing that Rachael noticed, because in each of those things' hands was a long, sharp sword. Now her first train of thought was why they even had swords in the first place (surely guns would be more effective?), her second train of thought was more along the lines of _what even are they?_ before she realised that she was probably in danger. Whatever these things were, they didn't look friendly, and by the way they were advancing on her, weapons poised, Rachael thought that it was probably best to run.

Breathing heavily, she took a small step backwards before setting off into a sprint. This was a fight or flight situation, and she most definitely picked flight. She could hear the pounding off those things' footsteps behind her (yep, they definitely wanted to hurt her), so she pushed herself to go faster, all pain in her legs forgotten. As she ran, a million thoughts ran through her mind. Like the fact that she had never seen these things, or even heard about them for that matter, anywhere back at home. Which, yet again, raised the important question: where the hell was she?

Rachael hadn't got very far before she felt something hard pull at her hair, dragging her back. Squealing at the pain that flared up on her scalp, Rachael had no choice but to let that _thing _drag her towards him. It looked even worse close up, and she nearly threw up at the smell. Think of rotting fish mixed with the worst smell you've ever smelt, and times it by ten, and then maybe you'll know how bad they smelt to her.

"What have we got here?" it snarled. Rachael was actually surprised it was able to speak proper words.

"Listen, mate. Haven't you ever heard the words 'look, don't touch?' Because I'm thinking that it definitely applies here." Replied Rachael, through clenched teeth, trying not to breath in too much. She definitely sounded braver than she felt, especially when she saw him bring his blade up across her throat. Gulping, she thought that it was probably best if she was to keep her mouth shut. They obviously weren't the type to joke around, and as she looked down, she saw a trial of blood drip down her throat from where the blade was digging in.

Rachael listened as they spoke to each other in some vile language (so much for knowing 'proper' words), and tried to think about her options. Unfortunately, the panic that she was feeling was overwhelming any other train of thought, and in a last bid attempt to free herself (struggling seemed a bad option due to the small problem of a sharp blade that was slowly digging into her throat. She could feel more blood dripping down her throat), Rachael did the only thing that came to mind. She screamed. And loud.

The thing holding her growled something in her ear, and dragged her towards a tree. _Oh god, it's actually going to kill me_, she thought. _They're going to eat me and make a necklace out of my bones!_

Giving up on any rescue attempts, Rachael proceeded to struggle with all her might. What had she got left to loose now? She'd actually managed to escape the grasp of what seemed to be the leader of the group when someone else burst into the clearing. _He heard me scream! Yay!_, she thought. Although, seeing who'd run to her rescue, he didn't look any better. He had a bald, tattooed head, the fiercest beard that she had _ever _seen, was wearing armor, and had a huge axe in his hand. Raising a tentative hand onto her neck, Rachael backed behind the tree and peered around as the creatures launched themselves at the mystery man.

Rachael had half a mind to help him as she realised it was three against one, but stopped almost as soon as the thought came to mind. She'd only get in the way. Watching as the bald guy flew his axe around like it was nothing (while managing to embed it into various limbs of the creatures), Rachael thought that she was going to be sick. She could hear the creatures squealing and screaming as they were being basically hacked into little bits, drops of black blood flying onto the trees around her.

Closing her eyes, she didn't notice when the fighting had stopped, and it wasn't until a rough voice called her over did she snap out of it.

"Are you going to come out now lass, or am I going to have to come and yet ya?" Breathing shakily, Rachael concentrated on putting one foot in front of another until she was a few metres away from the man. She had only just realised now that he was actually a little shorter than she was, which was saying something. She could see bits and pieces of the creatures all around her, the one who'd held the blade across her throat's head seemed like it was looking at her with glazed eyes from the ground.

"I…I…" Before she could get a proper sentence out, Rachael was sick, spilling out the empty contents of her stomach all over the floor. It was actually more dry heaving now that she thought about it. _How embarrassing. The guy saves your life, and you thank him by throwing up on his boots. How classy…_

Clearing her throat, she wiped her mouth, trying not to think about the blood that had come up with her vomit. "I...hmm…sorry about that…I think. What…ur…what were those things?"

The man looked at her like she'd said something stupid. "Orcs." He said simply. "Here." He pulled out a rather manky looking handkerchief. "For yer neck."

Looking at it wearily, Rachael took it from his hand and pressed it against her neck, wincing at the pain. "What's an Orc?" she asked.

He pointed to the right of her foot. "That there's an Orc." Rachael looked at the head that he was pointing to before returning her gaze to her 'savoir', only to see that he had turned and was walking away.

"Hey!" she shouted, limping over to him. "You can't just leave me here! What if more of those thi…I mean, Orcs…come back?"

"Dazzle 'em with that pretty smile o' yours." _Oh, he thinks he's so clever…_

Cursing under her breath, Rachael continued to follow him. "But I'll starve out here! I have no idea where I am!"

"Not my problem."

"Come on! I don't have a chance of surviving out here on my own. And if it comes down to going off on my own and potentially starving or running into more Orcs, or going with someone who just saved my life, I think it's pretty obvious what I'm going to pick." She could see him slowly getting more annoyed. "Please! That was kind of a compliment! And I really think I'm going to bleed to death if someone doesn't help me."

"Don't be stupid. You're not going to bleed to death."

"Maybe not. But I _might_. And I won't be any trouble, I promise! Seriously, you should be feeling very privileged right now. I _never _beg!"

"Lucky me…" he grumbled.

"Is that a yes?"

"Mahal help me… fine." Rachael grinned and moved to hug him, pulling back quickly when she realised what she'd done. _Not a hugger…_ "Just…don't do that again." He complained, stomping away, causing Rachael to run after him, handkerchief clutched to her neck.

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><p><strong>Yay! Chapter two! Thank you for all the reviews, it means a lot!<strong>

**Let me know what you think of this chapter by the usual. Review. PM. Favourite. Whatever…**


	3. Arriving At Bag-End

It didn't take Rachael long to realise that this guy was definitely _not _a talker. She'd been walking with him for what she estimated was about four hours or so, and had been out of breath for the last two. For such a short man, he walked pretty quickly, and he'd been striding about four strides ahead of her the entire time. She had absolutely no idea where he was going (when she'd asked, he didn't say a word and only walked faster), but she had to think that anywhere was better than here. She was still clinging on to the faint hope that someone would be able to give her directions home, or at least back to Glasgow, but with each step that she took, that hope was slowly dwindling down to nothing.

Her neck had at least stopped bleeding, although now, it hurt like hell and it was all Rachael could hope for that it didn't scar. She'd considered giving the man his handkerchief back, but she didn't think that he'd want an already filthy rag that was now covered in her blood. Nonetheless, she kept it; she didn't want to start bleeding again and have nothing to stop it with.

"So…are you going to tell me your name, at least?" she asked, finally catching up with him.

"Dwalin." He replied, giving her a quick side glance. "Yer necks stopped bleeding."

Rachael stared at him a for a second. "Urm…yep. It stopped bleeding a couple of hours ago." _Good to know he's so observant. I _definitely_ feel safe_, she thought to herself. "And…I just…I feel like I should say thank you, for helping me back there. I mean…I'm just going to go along with how you were helping a damsel in distress…" She saw him about to interrupt. "Let me think what I like! Anyway, thank you…for saving me. And sorry for nearly throwing up all over your shoes. I like to think I did well there. Knowing me, I'm surprised I didn't get ya!"

"No problem, lass." Rachael could have sworn she saw at least a tiny hint of a smile flick over Dwalin's face before the scowl returned. _Hey! Maybe I'm actually wearing him _

_down! I seem to have a knack for that…_

"So are you going to tell me where we're going, or am I just going to have to blindly follow you?" Rachael's thinking was that, as he seemed to be in a better mood now (he was walking slower so she could at least keep up with him), he would tell her something now. Really, anything would be good.

"I'm…going to meet up with my brother and some…friends." He said at last, although she could tell that it was a _very _vague description of where he was actually going.

"That sounds nice. I didn't know you had a brother." _Of course you didn't, idiot. You didn't even know his name until a minute ago!_

"Indeed I do." Rachael smiled. It was nice to have someone to finally talk to. "What about you lass, any siblings?"

She felt a pang in her chest as she thought about her family, but pushed it down. Best not to dwell on the depressing. "Two actually. I have an older brother, Aidan. And…a younger sister called Paige. I'm Rachael by the way." She'd just realised that he didn't actually know her name.

"Okay lass, so tell me this. With two siblings, what were you doing in the middle of a forest surrounded by Orcs?"

"I wouldn't say _surrounded_." Rachael mumbled, not wanting to admit that she was _completely _helpless. "But, to answer your question, I honestly have no idea. But…you don't have any idea of where Glasgow is, do you?" It was a chance in a million, but it was worth a try, right?

"Glasgow?" The word sounded weird coming from him. "Never heard of it, lass. Is it down south?"

"Never mind." She pouted. There goes her lifeline.

They walked on in silence for a few more minutes before Dwalin broke it again. "What is a 'Khaleesi?'"

"What, sorry?"

"A 'Khaleesi'."

Rachael smiled as she saw that he was looking at her t-shirt. _A little bit of home_, she thought. "It's…just something from where I'm from. It would be…a very long explanation."

"So, are you a 'Khaleesi?'" _Are people in this place going to take my t-shirt seriously, because if so, awesome!_

"What? N…actually, yes. Yes I am. Not a princess, a 'Khaleesi'." She grinned. She'd always wanted to say that.

* * *

><p>It was sunset by the time Dwalin decided to stop. This was only her second proper day in this place, and she was already shattered. Her neck had been throbbing since they'd stopped talking, but she didn't dare say anything. Rachael found herself lucky enough that Dwalin was putting up with her and letting her tag along; if she constantly complained, she didn't put it past him to leave in the middle of the night if he really needed to. Not that he would have needed to. She couldn't exactly have caught up with him if he'd decided to leg it. She was a crap runner anyway.<p>

The thing that she was most thankful for, however, was the food that Dwalin had managed to find. He'd managed to kill a rabbit that was bouncing along the forest floor (Rachael had to turn her head; she liked rabbits and she'd seen enough blood for one day), and had spent the evening roasting it over the fire he'd made. Rachael had felt pretty useless while Dwalin had been doing all the work, but seeing as he'd already done everything, she vowed she'd help the next night.

Rachael wasted no time in devouring the meat that Dwalin gave her, sighing at…well, food. Her stomach had been feeling like it was eating itself; the food felt so good.

"How far away is it to wherever you're going?" she asked, once they'd finished.

"Not far. Should be there by tomorrow evening at most." Rachael nodded. So she wasn't actually that far from finding someone who could help. She wasn't sure whether Dwalin was leading her to a town, village, maybe even a city. He had kept it _very _quiet about his business. In fact, she wasn't even sure what she was going to do once he arrived. Maybe she could just stick with him, _like a leech_, she internally scoffed. After all, he'd let her stay with him today…she'd probably annoyed the crap out of him, but he was still being civil…

"Where am I going to go?" she asked. No point in not getting straight to the point.

"What do you mean, lass?" He turned to look at her, furrowing his eyebrows. It made him look even more menacing than before, although she knew he didn't mean to. He was just a menacing looking person. To her at least.

"Where am I going to go?" she repeated, slowly. "I…I don't know anyone here, I don't know where I am…and I am sounding so pathetic and helpless right now." She chuckled, humourlessly.

"What about yer brother and sister?"

"I don't know where they are. Or even if they're alive." She muttered, afterwards. "Do you honestly think my ideal day is to wonder aimlessly around the forest?"

"From the situation I found you in, I wouldn't say no."

"Look, I wouldn't ask if I wasn't desperate, but I would _really _appreciate a familiar face, and right now, you're the only one around I even sort of know." She gave him what she hoped was a charming smile. "I won't get in the way! And as soon as I know where I am, I'll leave and you'll never see me again, I promise!" And since she didn't know where the hell she was at all, she figured she'd phrased that well.

"I'll bear that in mind." He grunted, obviously settling down to sleep for the night.

* * *

><p>The cut on Rachael's neck was even sorer the next day, and as they walked towards the edge of the forest (<em>finally!<em> she thought), it was all she could do not to scratch it. The only thing that stopped her was the fear of it starting to bleed again and losing too much blood and passing out. Extreme, and like Dwalin said, she probably wasn't going to bleed to death, but it was probably best to not aggravate it too much. At this point, infection didn't seem nice.

Lunch wasn't a very big affair, only the rest of the rabbit Dwalin had caught, but she was thankful for it nonetheless. By this time in her 'journey' however, Rachael was really wanting to go home. The nights here were chilly, she had no bed, really needed a shower, and the need to brush her teeth was getting stronger with every hour. She missed indoor plumbing, her book collection, and, most of all, her family. She'd never gone this long without talking to them, or arguing in her sisters case. The thought of if she never got back ran through her mind from time to time, but she really didn't want to think about how badly that would hurt.

"Dwalin." She hissed, an hour later. "Dwalin!"

"What, lass?" He stopped and turned around so suddenly that Rachael nearly fell back trying to stop in time.

"I need…to…you know, go…again." She mumbled. She'd drank far too much at the river the previous day, not knowing when she was going to come across another water supply, and now she was needing to pee about every two hours or so. It was becoming increasingly obvious that Dwalin was getting very annoyed.

"Again? Well, go on, make it quick." Shooting him a relieved smile, Rachael quickly jogged a few metres away (it would be _incredibly _awkward if he heard her pee), squatted behind a tree before doing her 'business'. Yep, she definitely missed indoor plumbing. Peeing in the forest just seemed dangerous. She'd managed to sting herself on nettles a couple of times, and she always felt like someone was watching her which was extremely unnerving.

Pulling her leggings back up, she jogged back to Dwalin who was impatiently tapping his foot. "Come on! I was quick!" she defended. He only grunted and gestured Rachael forward. "How far are we to the edge of here anyway? You said we'd be there by this evening." But almost as soon as the sentence had come out of her mouth, the trees began to space out as more light was shining through the tree tops. "Never mind."

The further they walked, the fewer trees grew, and despite the fact that Rachael had started to hate this place, the place that she'd ended up in was, in one word, beautiful. She was standing on top of a shallow hill overlooking what she assumed was a small village. She could see a main road running through the middle of it; on either side were small houses and Rachael noticed people walking to and from various places, talking to their neighbours and exchanging the odd thing out of their baskets. Smoke rose from the chimneys and she smiled when she saw that there was actually houses built _into _the hills. _They've made the holes in the hills into houses_, she thought. _How quaint._

All in all, it looked like a very peaceful place, and Rachael wondered what business Dwalin had here. He _definitely _did not look like the peaceful type if his huge axe was anything to go by.

"Come on lass. We're not here for sight seeing." Sighing, Rachael trekked down the hill after him, only noticing now that the sun was beginning to set. They'd obviously been walking for longer than she'd thought they had.

As she walked further into the village (was it a village? She always got confused between a village and a town…), she noticed something strange. Or was it normal here? Whatever it was, it was strange to her. She'd noticed that the people here weren't really…well…they didn't look like normal people. They were shorter than most humans she'd met, but that wasn't the main thing (seeing as she was pretty short herself, who was she to judge?). They had huge feet. Like, really big. Big and hairy. _Does anyone here actually look like a normal human being? We have big and hairy over here, small and hairy over there, and big gross and ugly (and now chopped into little pieces) back in the forest._

"What are you actually looking for?" she finally asked after a few minutes. He'd been peering intensely at random houses down the road they'd been walking down, freaking out some of the locals. One of them had actually tripped over their hedge in their bid to run back inside their house, making Rachael struggle to hide her chuckles. She huffed when Dwalin didn't answer, but continued to follow him nevertheless. "Are you really going to check every single house in this place? Because if we are, I would just skip to that one up there." She pointed to a house on the top of hill.

Dwalin stopped to think for a while. "Good point lass. Let's go."

"What a minute! I wasn't serious! I am not walking up that hill! It might not even be the right house!"

"Then have fun out here." Cursing him under her breath (which seemed like it was becoming a regular occurrence), she jogged after him, struggling to catch up as he'd somehow made it halfway up already. "This is it." he muttered, peering at a small mark on a round green door.

"You mean we're stopping now?" Rachael bent over to try and catch her breath. _Urgh, exercise_.

Dwalin gave a small 'mmm' noise before reaching up and ringing the doorbell. It only took a few seconds for the door to open, and Rachael was greeted by another one of the small people with the big feet she'd seen below. This one was male, with curly light brown hair and a rather bewildered expression.

"Ah." He said, giving them (it was more Dwalin than her) an odd look.

"Dwalin, at your service." Dwalin said, giving a slight bow. _I never got a bow, _Rachael thought. _I think the circumstances were a little different though._

"Bilbo Baggins, at yours." The small man replied after letting out a little whimper and tying his rope tighter around himself.

"I'm…I'm Rachael by the way…in case you wanted to know…" Rachael drifted off as Dwalin walked inside. Bilbo was staring after him with an extremely puzzled look on his face.

"D…do we know each other?"

"No." _Way to be blunt about it, Dwalin_. "Which way, laddie? Is it down here?"

"I…is what down where?"

"Supper. He said there'd be food, and lots of it." _Now that is something that sounds good_, Rachael thought, thinking of the first proper meal she would have since arriving here. _Things may actually be working out._

* * *

><p><strong>And the next chapter is up! And Bilbo has come in! Updates may be less frequent. Work is just building up, it's awful.<strong>

**But, as always, review, favourite…the usual.**


	4. Meeting The Company

"H…he said? Who said?" stuttered Bilbo, who was looking more and more uncomfortable by the second. Rachael didn't blame him; when she'd first seen Dwalin, she'd run away and hidden behind a tree. She had just been attacked by Orcs, but that wasn't the point.

Seeing Dwalin walk into Bilbo's house, much to Bilbo's annoyance it seemed, Rachael took the time to look around. Even just from looking around the entrance, she could tell that Bilbo was quite well off. Wooden cabinets lined the edges of the walls, books were strewn across the surfaces of them and candles burned in holders above. Ornaments and chests also aligned the walls and Rachael welcomed the warmth and comfort. It made a very pleasant change from outside which became quite chilly at night.

Realising that even Bilbo had walked away, Rachael pulled off her boots (some people were picky about wearing shoes in their homes, after all) and scurried after him. Peering into various rooms, she eventually found them both in a room with a small table in the middle. Dwalin was already sat down and digging into a plate full of food, not very elegantly Rachael noticed.

"Mmmm…very good, this." He said, through a mouthful of what looked like fish. "Any more?" _And maybe some for me?_, thought Rachael, trying to ignore the grumbling in her stomach. _How much have I actually eaten since coming here? Half a rabbit? I bet Bilbo has really good food here…_

"What?" asked Bilbo, snapping out of whatever thoughts he was having. Rachael assumed that he was thinking of all the ways to get her and Dwalin out of his house. "Uh…oh…yes. Yes!" Rachael took the seat opposite of Dwalin while Bilbo practically ran out of the room.

"I think you're scaring him." she said, chuckling. Dwalin only gave a grunt in return, opting to pick out the fish bones caught in his teeth rather than reply.

"Help yourself." Rachael looked towards Bilbo who had carried in a plate full of biscuits. She saw him quickly hide one behind his back before putting the plate on the table and backing away straight afterwards. Not wanting to risk Dwalin eating all of them (obviously thinking along the same lines as Bilbo), she grabbed a handful and dumped them (quite rudely, she thought afterwards) on the table in front of her. They were rather plain, and were also quite chewy, but at that moment they tasted delicious. "Mmmm. It's just that…um…I wasn't expecting company." Continued Bilbo. He was thoroughly ignored however, and was about to start again when the bell rang.

"That'll be the door." Pointed out Dwalin, spraying Rachael with crumbs.

"Please don't do that again." She said, wiping her cheek with her sleeve and standing up to see who was at the door. Dwalin _had _said that he was meeting up with his brother and some friends, and she assumed that from the way Bilbo had no idea who Dwalin was, his brother and friends hadn't arrived yet. She was still wondering why they were meeting at a stranger's house (_maybe his brother knows him or something, _she thought), when Bilbo opened the door, a lot more hesitant than he had for her, she saw.

"Balin, at your service." The man that was stood at the door seemed a lot older than Dwalin and Bilbo if his white beard and hair was anything to go by. _Kind of reminds me of Santa, _Rachael thought to herself. He was shorter than Dwalin, though not by much, and was staring at Bilbo with a huge smile on his face.

"Good evening." Replied Bilbo, although it sounded rather strained.

"Yes, yes it is. Though I think it might rain later. Am I late?" Rachael had to chuckle. This guy either didn't notice Bilbo's attitude, or was blatantly ignoring it.

"Late for what?" _Yeah, late for what_?, thought Rachael. Maybe she would finally find some things out. She wasn't sure what things, but at this point, anything would be nice.

"Oh, ha ha!" exclaimed Balin as he looked over Bilbo's shoulder. "Evening brother. Heh heh." _Ah, so this is Dwalin's brother. I probably should have realised from their names. Well, he certainly seems nicer anyway._

"Oh, by my beard, you are shorter and wider than last we met." Replied Dwalin, who was now standing in the doorway. _Can't you just feel that brotherly love?_, Rachael chuckled.

"Wider, not shorter. Sharp enough for both of us." Rachael watched with fascination as they greeted each other, putting their hands on each other's shoulder and smashing their foreheads together.

"Uh…excuse me." Interrupted Bilbo, stepping forward after shutting the door. "Sorry, I hate to interrupt…ah…but the thing is, I'm not entirely sure you're in the right house."

"Have you eaten?" Dwalin asked his brother, continuing to ignore Bilbo.

"It's not that I don't like visitors; I…I like visitors as much as the next Hobbit (_so that's what Bilbo is…but what the hell is a Hobbit?)_, but I do like to know them before they come visiting." _Seriously Bilbo, just know when to drop it._

"Ah, that looks very nice indeed." Furrowing her eyebrows, Rachael turned away from the Hobbit to see that the two brothers had wandered off Lord only knows where.

"What's this?"

"I don't know…cheese?"

"The thing is…urm…" stuttered Bilbo.

"It's gone blue."

"It's riddled with mold."

Rachael had to duck to avoid the lump of cheese that flew past her head, and continued on to find Dwalin and Balin riffling through Bilbo's pantry.

"The thing us…um…I…I don't know any of you." He gave Rachael a quick glance, but it seemed his attention was focused more on the two men handling all his food. "Not in the slightest. I don't mean to be blunt, but I…uh, but I had to speak my mind. I'm sorry."

"Hmm…" said Balin, as he looked at the Hobbit. "Apology accepted." Rachael couldn't help the snort that came out of her at that. It sounded exactly like something her brother would say. "Who are you, lass?"

"Um…Rachael Catriona McKay. Or just Rachael…I'm not sure why I just told you my full name…" She winced at how she sounded. "Nice to meet ya, anyway!"

"Pleasure to meet ya too, lass. Ah, now fill it up brother, don't stint. I could eat again, if you insist." Seeing that he was done speaking to her, Rachael slid past him and explored the pantry. Her stomach sounded like someone dying now, and she desperately needed some food. Ignoring the sound of the doorbell ringing yet again, Rachael grabbed a hold of at least half a dozen cakes and made her way back to the table. Dumping the cakes on top of the biscuits she'd forgotten to eat, she then went in search of a plate, thinking that Bilbo would not appreciate it if she got crumbs all over his floor.

Distantly, she could hear Bilbo complaining in the entrance, "That's my mother's glory box, can you please not do that?" Deciding to stay out of his way, Rachael riffled through Bilbo's cupboards, trying in vain to find a plate, and cursing when at least three glasses almost fell on her head.

"Damn it!" She'd managed to save two of the glasses, but the third had hit the ground and smashed around her feet.

"You should really be more careful." Came a voice behind her. Jumping, Rachael cursed again when she banged her head on the cupboard door. "A lot more careful from the looks of it."

Turning, Rachael came face to face with the person that had obviously rung the doorbell. He was a little taller than her (the first person she'd met here that actually was), with shoulder length dark-brown hair and a light stubble instead of a beard. _Damn, he's good looking._

Fighting the blush that rose to her cheeks at the smile he was sending her, Rachael slammed the cupboard door shut, wincing when a crash that sounded a lot like glasses hitting the door came from inside. "Yeah, it's not the first time I've heard that." she replied, rubbing her head and bending down to clean up the smashed glass.

"Let me help you with that." said the stranger, kneeling down.

"No, no. It's fine, I got it." Being careful not to cut herself, she managed to pick up most of the pieces, pushing the smaller, fine pieces to the side where no one would step on them. "Shush. No one has to know."

"I won't say a word. I'm Kili, at your service." Blushing further when he kissed the back of her hand, Rachael gave him a smile.

"Rachael…at…um…yours." She cleared her throat, looking awkwardly to the ground. "This is probably a shot in the dark, as I'm assuming you don't live here, but you don't happen to know where the plates are, do you?"

"I think Mister Dwalin has taken them all to the table for the meeting." Rachael sighed. Of course Dwalin had done that.

"Right, okay…I'll just go to the table then, I suppose." Trying to ignore Kili's laughing behind her, Rachael walked into the dining room where at least twelve chairs had been squished around a very large table. Somehow in the few minutes she'd been in the kitchen, the others had found tonnes of food, drink and all sorts of things and crammed them onto the table. She also discovered that the biscuits and cakes she'd left had disappeared. Frowning to herself (she'd been looking forward to those cakes), Rachael turned and walked towards the door as she heard the bell ring yet again. She was beginning to feel very lonely here; Dwalin had left her in favour of talking to his brother and she didn't really know anyone else.

"Oh no. No, no!" shouted Bilbo, stomping up to the door. "There's nobody home. Go away and bother somebody else. There's far too many dwarves in my dining room as it is. If…if…if this is some clotterd's idea of a joke, ha ha, I can only say, it is in very poor taste." Rachael bit her lip to keep from laughing at Bilbo. His face had gone a bright shade of red and she could swear his eye was twitching. But at least she knew what Dwalin was now, although she had a hard time believing it. _Dwarves_, she thought,_ what next, Elves?_ _But of course they were dwarves, why wouldn't they be?! It certainly explains the height._

Watching Bilbo open the door with extreme force, Rachael couldn't help the laugh that escaped her. A group of about eight dwarves (she snorted again in her head at that) had obviously been leaning against the door in impatience and had fallen down in a massive pile on Bilbo's front door step. Standing above them was a taller man, wearing grey robes and a pointed hat, a grey beard and was holding a large wooden staff. He was considerably taller than the others, and her for that matter, and was currently laughing at the misfortune of those grumbling on the floor beneath him.

"Gandalf." Glared Bilbo, through gritted teeth.

"Miss Rachael." Rachael turned to see Kili standing there, with another dwarf standing next to him. Wondering when he had even arrived, she sent him a smile. "Have you met my brother?"

"Fili, at your service, Miss Rachael." _Wow, brother's names are _really_ similar here._

"Hi." She replied. Considering they were brothers, she didn't really think they looked all that similar. Fili had blonde hair that was braided at the side, seemed to be more of a stockier build than Kili, although he was a tad shorter, and had more facial hair with a short beard and a braided mustache. _Strange, but each to their own._ "Do you mind if we carry this on at the table. I'm _really _hungry." Not waiting for an answer, she practically ran to the table not caring how rude she was being, dodging all the others who had just arrived and were trying to find a seat.

Managing to find a seat near the middle of the table opposite a younger looking dwarf with a bowl hair cut, she smiled as she grabbed a plate and looked at all the food. All the very nice looking food.

"So, Miss Rachael, where do you come from?" asked Fili once he'd sat down on her left side. Kili had sat down on her right side making her feel very surrounded as they both stared at her intensely.

"Uh, Balloch. It's…down south." _As if they'll know where it is. It doesn't seem like anyone actually knows _anything _around here. _"I live on a farm actually. Well, I did anyway."

"And what brought you up north, then?" asked Kili.

"Oh, urm…just, you know…circumstances, I mean, one moment you're out with your family, the next you're wandering around in the middle of a forest." Ignoring the strange looks the two brothers sent her (and she didn't blame them), Rachael proceeded to load up her plate with any available food she could reach.

"How about we introduce everyone to you?" Looking around at all the strange faces, Rachael doubted that she would be able to remember everyone's names, but nodded anyway. "Okay, well…the one in the funny hat is Bofur, the….uh…larger dwarf with the red hair is his brother Bombur and the dwarf with the axe in his head is their cousin Bifur."

"Woah! Hang on! He's got an axe in his head? Surely that's not good?" Rachael looked in disbelief as the dwarf named Bifur walked by, gesturing towards the cup of ale seeming completely oblivious to the axe embedded in his skull.

"Don't worry. He's fine, I doubt he even feels it. You'll get used to it. It's always a shock at first, seeing it." Blinking in disbelief, Rachael nodded her head slowly while taking a large bite out of a piece of bread. "Anyway, him sitting opposite you is Ori, him with the triangular hair and beard is Nori and the one standing next to him is Dori. They're all brothers. I'm assuming you know Dwalin and Balin considering I heard them talking about you earlier. And him there with the huge braided beard is Gloin with his brother Oin, and the wizard there is Gandalf."

"Wizard?" asked Rachael, weakly.

"Yes. We're just waiting on our Uncle now." Replied Fili. Scratching absentmindedly at the cut on her neck, Rachael looked around, feeling a little overwhelmed. Would any of these people be able to get her back home? She highly doubted it, and proceeded to take her frustration out on the bread in front of her, ripping it into tiny pieces. "What…what are you doing, Miss Rachael?"

"Bread frustrates me." She replied, sending him a sarcastic smile. "And can you please stop calling me 'Miss'. It's really weird."

"Of course, Miss Rachael." He replied, smirking back. "Care for an ale?" She merely glared back.

* * *

><p><strong>And there we go! Sorry about the wait, I've been to France for the week. So much French bread, I can't even describe! I'm breaded out! Anyway, next update should be sooner. Until then! :)<strong>


	5. The Quest

Rachael merely sat there as Fili handed out mug after mug of ale (where he had got them from, she had no idea). She'd opted to just have water, which the dwarf Ori had leapt up to go and bring her (_he is so sweet)_, knowing that alcohol just went straight to her head.

"Here, lass!" called the dwarf with the star-fish haircut from near the end of the table (_Nori, I think he was called,_ she thought). "What are yer doing 'ere, if yer don't mind me asking?"

Rachael gave him an odd look (more to the fact that he was giving her one in the first place than anything else) and thought about how to reply. "Urm…well, Dwalin brought me!" She flashed Dwalin a grin as he glared at her.

"Oh, aye? And how do yer know him then?"

Uncomfortable from all the stares, Rachael scratched absentmindedly at the cut on her neck again, frowning when she realised that it was becoming a rather bad habit. "Um, well…you know what, I think I will have that ale!"

"Here ya go, lassie." Said Bofur (_he was the one wearing the funny hat, right?)_, handing her an ale. "What's yer name, lass, if yer don't mind me asking?" Rachael chuckled at the awkward look on his face; he obviously didn't want to ask her, but she realised that most of them here didn't even know who she was.

"Oh! I'm Rachael. Or Rach. Some people call me Rae." She cleared her throat, noticing that she was rambling. "You know what, just call me Rachael." The dwarves laughed at her as Dwalin poured his ale into Oin's hearing trumpet, making Rachael snort with laughter as Oin spluttered in anger. She hadn't seen much of Dwalin's sense of humour- he'd been rather grumpy as she'd travelled with him- and it was strange to see. "Shut up!" she scolded at Fili and Kili, who were busy sniggering at her rambling. "I'm not good with strangers."

Looking down at her plate, Rachael soon realised that she was out of food. The huge pile of food she'd grabbed when she'd first sat down had disappeared, and she could only come to the conclusion that she'd been absent-mindedly eating it as she'd been sitting and talking. Frowning, she quickly re-stocked her plate. What use was having food if you didn't know you'd eaten it? That was the good bit!

"Got enough food there, Miss Rachael?" asked Fili, stealing a piece of bacon from her plate.

"No actually." She replied, stealing some cheese from his plate. "Seeing as you're stealing it!"

"I can give it back if you want?" He smirked.

"Ew, no! Just…no." It wasn't as if she wasn't used to this back at home, hell, her and her brother used to tease her sister all the time (which had resulted in Paige storming away from the table on more than one occasion), but she didn't want Fili to take her seriously and actually 'give' her the food back. "Actually, can I just…" she motioned for him to move his seat in to get past.

"Yes?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Move your arse." Giving him a smile when he did as she said, Rachael immediately set off to find Bilbo. _Bilbo…who's a Hobbit…I cannot believe they exist…they seem so cute, although I don't think angering one is a good idea, _she thought as she finally found Bilbo. His eye was definitely twitching as he peered around the corner to watch the dwarves eat his food, and Rachael had to take a deep breath before approaching him. "Urm…Mr Bilbo…Hobbit…Sir?" _What the hell should I call him?_

"What? Hmm...Oh yes, how can I help you?" Bilbo tried to sound civil despite the irritation at the dwarves that had ransacked his home. He had even less of an idea about why a human girl (He assumed she was human. She definitely didn't seem the Dwarvish type and she was certainly not a Hobbit or Elf) was here with them, but she certainly seemed more polite than the others, which seemed like a blessing right now.

"Hi, yeah…I was just wondering where the bathroom is. 'Cause, ya know, I kind of…need it, and your house is massive and I'd probably get lost." Replied Rachael, having to look down at him, which felt very strange as she was normally constantly looking up.

"Oh, yes! Of course. It's just down the hallway to the right." He motioned.

"Okay, thanks Bilbo."

"Urm…Miss…Rachael, was it? Sorry, can I just…what are all these dwarves doing in my house?" Rachael smiled at how he stuttered (she didn't think she'd heard him say something where he wasn't stuttering), and shook her head.

"Urm…I don't know. I'm sorry." Shrugging her shoulders and wishing she could be a bit more helpful, Rachael gave him a quick wave before making her way to the bathroom.

* * *

><p>Rachael found her way back to the dining room just in time for the dwarves to begin a burping contest. Very loudly. In fact, Rachael was surprised at some of the sounds that came out of some of their mouths, Ori especially.<p>

"Well, that was pleasant." She said, making them all turn towards the doorway, ale dripping from some of their beards. _Attractive…_

"Where'd ya go, lass?" shouted Bofur, who had stood up to pat Ori on the back. "Ya missed the contest!"

"Yes, that was a shame…" she smiled. Rachael liked the dwarves so far. They were very rowdy, and seemed nice enough, and it got her mind off going home. Not even attempting to get past the dwarves who were now leaving the table, she thanked Kili for bringing her the ale she'd left.

"Excuse me!" she heard Bilbo shout. "That is a doily, not a dishcloth!"

"But it's full of holes!" argued Bofur, who let Bilbo snatch it out of his hands.

"It's supposed to look like that, it's crochet." _Oh ho! Check out his attitude!_

"Oh, and a wonderful game it is too, if you've got the balls for it." Rachael snorted into her ale.

"Bebother and confusticate these dwarves!"

"Come on, Bilbo!" said Rachael, giving the Hobbit a nudge. "They're not _that _bad. Just think…" She dropped her voice down to a whisper. "I had to spend about two days with mister grump-frumps over there. If I can do that, you can cope this one night!" Before Bilbo could argue back, which Rachael was sure he was about to, Ori came up to him carrying his plate.

"Excuse me. I'm sorry to interrupt, but what should I do with my plate?" _He is just _so_ precious_, Rachael thought.

"Here you go, Ori." Said Fili walking up to them. "Give it to me." Moving backwards at Fili's gesture, Rachael then found herself backed up against the wall, watching as the dwarves started throwing around all of Bilbo's pots and cutlery. Much to her surprise, not a single thing was dropped. Bilbo, however, did not find this very amusing at all; especially when they started banging his cutlery on the table to create a rhythm.

"Excuse me, that's my mother's West Farthing crockery, it's over a hundred years old! And can…can you not do that? You'll blunt them!"

"Ooh! D'hear that, lads? He says we'll blunt the knives!" mocked Bofur.

Rachael saw Kili look over at her as he and the others started singing:

"_Blunt the knives, bend the forks_

_Smash the bottles and burn the corks_

_Chip the glasses and crack the plates_

_That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!_

_Cut the cloth and tread on the fat_

_Leave the bones on the bedroom mat_

_Pour the milk on the pantry floor_

_Splash the wine on every door!_

_Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl_

_Pound them up with a thumping pole_

_When you've finished, if any are whole_

_Send them down the hall to roll!_

_That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!_

"That was the _best _thing I have ever heard!" exclaimed Rachael as she peered around the door into the kitchen to find all the pots neatly piled up and clean. "Did you rehearse that or something?"

"Glad you enjoyed it, lass!" replied Bofur, laughing. Taking another sip of her ale, Rachael jumped at the three loud knocks on the door. She didn't know who it could be to cause all of the dwarves to suddenly become silent (although she definitely wished she could have that sort of power), but she did know that it must be someone important. Or scary. Or possibly both…

"He is here." Mumbled Gandalf, moving towards the front door.

"Who's here?" asked Rachael, turning to Fili and Kili. "Is it your uncle? You said your uncle was coming."

"Gandalf." Said a deep voice in the hallway. "I thought you said this place would be easy to find. I lost my way, twice. Wouldn't have found it at all had it not been for that mark on the door."

"Mark?" scoffed Bilbo, pushing his way through the dwarves that had gathered around the new arrival. "There's no mark on that door. It was painted a week ago!"

"There is a mark; I put it there myself." Said Gandalf. "Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield."

"So, this is the Hobbit." Said Thorin. Cringing inwardly at the stern look he gave Bilbo, Rachael hid slightly behind Fili and Kili. "Tell me, Mr. Baggins, have you done much fighting?"

"Pardon me?"

"Axe or sword? What's your weapon of choice?"

"Well, I have some skill at conkers, if you must know, but I fail to see why that's relevant." Rachael scoffed at the Hobbits answer; she knew exactly why it was relevant if her experience with the Orcs was anything to go by. Unfortunately for her however, this had drawn the attention of the newcomer.

"And who is this?" he asked. Even though she tried to hide further behind Fili and Kili, she could still feel his gaze on her, and Rachael cursed the brothers as they moved to the sides, leaving her exposed.

"Gee, thanks guys…" she mumbled. "Oh! Sorry, hi! I'm Rachael. Nice to meet you." She gave Thorin what she thought was a charming smile, but for all the good it did, she might as well have been frowning at him.

"And may I ask, what are you doing here?" _I'm getting the sense he doesn't actually _want_ me here…_

"Dwalin brought me!" Smiling at the confused look that Thorin now had, she moved forward a step. "I was in trouble in the middle of some…forest. He helped me."

"I see." Rachael frowned as he walked away after hanging his coat up. _Well that could probably have gone better. _

"Don't worry. Uncle's always like that around new people." Said Kili, leading her back to the dining room where Thorin was now sat at the head of the table.

"Wow. He must be a joy to be around…" she mumbled back, causing Kili to chuckle.

"What news from the meeting in Ered Luin?" asked Balin, once they'd all settled down. "Did they all come?" _Where the hell is Ered Luin?_ Rachael had heard a lot of strange things in the few days since she'd ended up here. Orcs. Dwarves. Hobbits. Wizards. Medieval weapons (the axe that Dwalin had was nothing to the armory that now seemed to take over Bilbo's hallway). And now Ered Luin. _What is an Ered Luin? _These were not things in her world, she couldn't still be in her world. Yet the logical part of her brain was saying, _don't be an idiot, Rachael! How can you be in another world? _Although that voice was slowly becoming less frequent.

"Aye." Replied Thorin, breaking her train of thought. "Envoys from all seven kingdoms." _Okay, there are seven kingdoms now._ She thought, trying to take in all the information. _What is this, Westeros? _She figured it was a good thing though, as all the dwarves started cheering.

"What do the dwarves of the Iron Hills say?" asked Dwalin, leaning forward. "Is Dain with us?"

"They will not come." The dwarves murmured in disappointment. "They say this quest is ours, and ours alone."

"You're going on a quest?" asked Bilbo and Rachael, simultaneously.

"Bilbo, my dear fellow, let us have a little more light." Said Gandalf, pulling out a piece of parchment out of his cloak. "Far to the East, over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single solitary peak."

"The Lonely Mountain." Read Bilbo, placing the lamp next to the map.

"Aye." Agreed Gloin, nodding his head. "Oin has read the portents, and the portents say it is time."

"Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold." Explained Oin. "When the birds of yore return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end."

"Uh, what beast?" asked Bilbo, looking up in alarm. Rachael was with him on that one. The mention of any kind of 'beast' did not sound overly good.

"Well." Said Bofur. "That would be a reference to Smaug the Terrible, chiefest and greatest calamity of our age. Airbourne fire-breather, teeth like razors, claws like meathooks, extremely fond of precious metals…"

"Yes, I know what a dragon is!" Rachael's head snapped up at the word 'dragon'. She thought that the Orcs were bad; _now _there were dragons. _This would be much easier if I actually _was _a Khaleesi…and that kind of thing existed of course. _

"I'm not afraid!" exclaimed Ori, standing up and giving Rachael a quick glance. "I'm up for it. I'll give him a taste of the Dwarfish iron right up his jacksie!"

Rachael giggled as Dori pulled his younger brother back down. "Sit down!"

"The task would be difficult enough with an army behind us." Said Balin, quietly. "But we number just thirteen, and not thirteen of the best, nor brightest."

"Did…did he just insult you all?" Rachael asked, but she was outspoken by the others, who were too busy shouting their objections.

"We may be few in number, but we're fighters, all of us, to the last dwarf!" yelled Fili, standing up.

"And you forget." Added Kili. "We have a wizard in our company. Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time."

"Oh, well, now, uh…I…I…I wouldn't say that, I…" stuttered the wizard.

"How many, then?" asked Dori.

"Uh, what?"

"Well, how many dragons have you killed? Go on, give us a number!"

"Hmmm…"

"Now look what you've done." Rachael said to Kili over the Dwarves' arguing.

"Well, it wasn't deliberate!"

"Shazara!" yelled Thorin, in some language that Rachael couldn't understand, "If we have read the signs, do you not think others will have read them too? Rumours have begun to spread. The dragon Smaug has not been seen for sixty years. Eyes look east to the Mountain, assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lies unprotected. Do we sit back while others claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor? Du Bekâr! Du Bekâr!"

Rachael looked around at all of the dwarves cheering. "That was a nice speech. Did you rehearse it?" She gave Thorin a smile as he glared at her. "Totally rehearsed it…"

* * *

><p><strong>And…voila! Not my favourite chapter, I will admit, but it's an update nonetheless. Plus, I am weighed down with college work and other work…and just, work in general, which sucks! <strong>

**But anyway, reviewing and favouriting (is that a word?) would make me a lot happier! **


	6. Joining The Company

"You forget." Interrupted Balin, glumly. "The front gate is sealed. There is no way into the mountain."

"That, my dear Balin, is not entirely true." Said Gandalf, with a slight smirk. Reaching into his cloak, Rachael watched as he pulled out what looked to her like an old, weirdly shaped key. Apparently it was quite impressive; at least Thorin seemed speechless at the sight of it.

"How came you by this?" he breathed, reaching out to take it.

"It was given to me by your father, by Thrain, for safekeeping. It is yours now."

"If there is a key, there must be a door." Stated Fili, on the edge of his seat. _Well no…who would have thought!_

"These runes speak of a hidden passage to the lower halls." Replied Gandalf, pointing to some signs on the map.

"There's another way in!" exclaimed Kili.

"Well, if we can find it, but dwarf doors are invisible when closed." _Way to rain on the parade, Gandalf. _

"Well that sounds useful." Rachael muttered, causing heads to turn her way. "I'm only saying! What use is a key if you can't even find the door in the first place to unlock it?"

"As I was saying…the answer lies somewhere in this map and I do not have the skill to find it. But there are others in Middle-Earth who can. The task I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth, and no small amount of courage. But, if we are careful and clever, I believe that it can be done."

"That's why we need a burglar." Stated Ori.

"Hmmm." Agreed Bilbo from the doorway. "A good one, too. An expert, I'd imagine."

"And are you?" asked Gloin.

"Am I what?" _Poor Bilbo…he has no idea what he's getting himself in for…if he's a burglar then I'm Scarlett Johansson._

"He said he's an expert!" misheard Oin, cheering. "Hey hey!" Rachael laughed along with the others. The bewildered look on Bilbo's face that they all thought he was a burglar was highly amusing, although she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

"M…me?" he stuttered. "No, no, no, no, no. I'm not a burglar; I've never stolen a thing in my life!"

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Mr. Baggins. He's hardly burglar material." Said Balin, Bilbo nodding in agreement.

"Aye." Agreed Dwalin. "The wild is no place for gentlefolk who can neither fight nor fend for themselves." Rachael could have sworn he gave her a brief look as he said that, although she stayed quiet. He was right, she _couldn't _fight or fend for herself. But as she sat there, for some odd reason, the dwarves started arguing again. She had no idea what about, and she was grateful that Fili and Kili didn't join in.

"Enough!" boomed Gandalf, almost making Rachael fall out of her seat. He looked terrifying as he darkened the room and stood higher than the ceiling causing him to bend over more than he usually had to. "If I say Bilbo Baggins is a burglar, then a burglar he is!" She watched in fascination as he returned to normal height and the room lightened again. _Maybe he really _is _a wizard. _"Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet. In fact, they can pass unseen by most if they choose. And while the dragon is accustomed to the smell of dwarf, the scent of hobbit is all but unknown to him, which gives us a distinct advantage. You asked me to find the fourteenth member of this company, and I have chosen Mr. Baggins. There's a lot more to him than appearances suggest, and he's got a great deal more to offer than any of you know, including himself. You must trust me on this."

"Very well." Said Thorin. "We will do it your way."

"No." said Bilbo, moving to step forward, but rethinking it. "No, no."

"Give him the contract."

"Please."

"Alright, we're off!" exclaimed Bofur. _Does Bofur even understand what's going on?_

"It's just the usual summery of out-of-pocket expenses, time required, remuneration, funeral arrangements, so forth." Said Balin, handing Bilbo an extremely long piece of parchment.

"Funeral arrangements?" squeaked Bilbo, eyes roaming the contract. "Terms: cash on delivery, up to but not exceeding one fourteenth of total profit, if any. Seems fair. Eh, present company shall not be liable for injuries inflicted by or sustained as a consequence thereof including but not limited to lacerations…evisceration…incineration?" He looked up in alarm. _Well, _thought Rachael. _If it's talking about injuries then what does he expect from a dragon?_

"Oh, aye." Said Bofur. "He'll melt the flesh off your bones in the blink of an eye."

"Huh." Breathed Bilbo.

"You all right, laddie?" asked Balin.

"Uh, yeah…" replied Bilbo, bending over to rest his arms on his knees. "Feel a bit faint." Rachael didn't blame him. Finding out that you could be incinerated wasn't exactly on anyone's to-do list.

"Think furnace with wings." Said Bofur, grinning.

"Air, I…I…I need air."

"Flash of light, searing pain, then poof! You're nothing more than a pile of ash." Rachael rolled her eyes. It seemed like Bofur didn't know what he was doing to the poor Hobbit who looked like he was about to collapse.

"Hmmmm. Nope." And with a thud, Bilbo ended up as a body on the floor.

"Ah, very helpful, Bofur." Said Gandalf.

* * *

><p>Rachael didn't really know what to do after Bilbo had fainted. This meeting had got her thinking: Dwalin and the rest of them were all going on a quest. Which led to the question of what was she going to do? She knew no-one, she didn't know where she was, she had no money to buy anything with, and she highly doubted Bilbo would let her stay in his home until he came back. <em>If <em>he was going of course; and at the moment, that looked highly unlikely. Which led to the thought of…

"Can I go?" The dwarves' heads snapped in her direction. "I mean…if Bilbo's not going, and I don't have anywhere else to go, and…I'd like to help you…I wouldn't have to sign a contract or anything…" She was highly aware of the mixture of reactions around the table at her question; the older dwarves seemed weary (and she didn't blame them), whereas the younger looking dwarves like Fili, Kili and Ori seemed happy. _At least they seem to want me…_

"And how do you think you would be able to help us, Miss Rachael?" she heard Thorin ask.

She paused. He had her there. How _could _she help them? She couldn't fight, or cook, or…anything really…she knew how to run a farm if that helped? "That…that is a good question…and… one that has many answers…" she stalled, trying to think.

"And those would be?" She could tell he was getting impatient.

"Well…I can cook…" _Lie. _"I'm…alright with basic medical…things…" _Okay, only half a lie._ "And…I was being honest when I said I had nowhere to go, like…at all. So…"

"I will think about it." Rachael smiled as Thorin walked away with Balin. _Hey, it wasn't a no! _

"You really want to come with us?" asked Kili, smiling. _He has a really nice smile…wait, no! Don't think like that! You're going to go home, and he is _way _out of your league!_

"Well, yeah! I suppose. You all seem nice enough, anyway." She replied.

"Even though we're going to potentially awaken a dragon?" asked Fili, joining in.

"There's always a downside." She smiled. "It's just, a bit hard to believe that a dragon actually exists."

"What do you mean?" She looked at the brothers. They seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say, and she didn't doubt that if Thorin let her go with them, they'd end up as good friends.

"Well, dragons don't exist, do they?! I mean, obviously they do here…but not where I'm from."

"I thought you said you were from down south? There were dragons down there, weren't there?"

Now she was stumped. "Uh, yeah! I am…kind of. Okay, not really…it's complicated. And as for dragons down south, I have no idea."

"What do you mean?" _I'm gonna have to tell them everything now! I'm just making them more interested by the second!_

"Oh god…I'm going to sound mad. Okay, here goes… I'm from another world…I think."

"Another world?" asked Ori, pulling out a notebook and quill.

"I told you, mad! It's just…I was in the car with my family, and from the looks on your faces, you don't know what a car is…but one moment we were crashing down a hill, and the next I'm in the middle of a forest being attacked by these _things_ after about a day! Those… what did Dwalin call them? Orcs, I think? Anyway, they don't exist where I'm from. Neither do dragons, neither do elves, neither do dwarves! No offence, of course. I'm not doubting your…realness or anything." _God Rachael, know when to stop! Foot in mouth disease or what?_

* * *

><p>Following her not so clear explanation of where she had come from (she was pretty sure she'd raised more questions than she'd answered), Rachael made her way into Bilbo's living room, which was much more cozy and certainly more roomy than the dining room had been. She sat on the sofa next to Ori (who kept giving her shy glances; something which made Rachael smile at) with Fili and Kili sitting on the floor beneath her feet. The dwarves were being very quiet (something that seemed quite odd. In the few hours that she'd known them, she'd found them to be very loud and boisterous) and a few minutes later, she saw Thorin, Dwalin and Balin walk in with solemn expressions on their faces. She didn't see Bilbo anywhere; she assumed that he'd grown tired of the dwarves and gone to bed after his talk with Gandalf.<p>

What she didn't expect was the dwarves to start humming lowly, smoking their pipes and staring into the fire. And then Thorin began to sing:

"_Far over the misty mountains cold_

_To dungeons deep and caverns old_

_We must away ere break of day_

_To fund our long-forgotten gold_

_The pines were roaring on the height_

_The winds were moaning in the night_

_The fire was red, it flaming spread_

_The trees like torches blazed with light"_

Rachael simply sat their in silence as the dwarves sang (the rest of them had joined in with the singing around half way through the song), shocked at how much the song had actually touched her. She hadn't known much about the quest they were all going on; the most that she'd picked up on was that there was a dragon in a place called 'Erebor' which was the dwarves' homeland, and they were all going to try and kill it and reclaim their home. It sounded mad, but she couldn't help but admire their courage.

As they finished singing, Rachael scrunched her nose up at the smell of smoke (which didn't smell exactly like cigarettes, but didn't help the fact that she still wasn't overly fond of the smell) from the dwarves' pipes. Looking around, it seemed like it was mostly the elder dwarves who were smoking; Fili, Kili and Ori at least had no pipe, but Gandalf seemed to be amusing himself by blowing out multi-coloured smoke rings from his mouth.

"Miss Rachael." She heard from across the room. Looking up, she saw Thorin standing near the doorway, motioning her to follow him. The others were talking amongst themselves now, and as she stood up from the sofa, she gave Fili and Kili a look of panic. Thorin intimidated her, she had to admit. He seemed strict, and definitely a person that you didn't want to get on the wrong side of. "I've been thinking about what you said."

Rachael nodded, keeping her mouth shut. Knowing her, she'd stick her foot in it, and then Thorin would definitely say she couldn't go (if he hadn't come to that decision already of course). "I have had a brief talk with Dwalin and…though he probably won't admit it, I think he feels responsible for you." Rachael could see a bit of annoyance on Thorin's face, and she was sure there was a picture of shock on hers. She thought all she'd done was manage to annoy him. "Anyway…" Thorin cleared his throat. "I will permit you to come with us." Rachael smiled and opened her mouth to say thank you before Thorin held up a hand to silence her. "However…I will not have you being a distraction to my men, and you will learn how to train with a weapon. I will not have you being defenseless." Rachael nodded. The thought of training did not sound appealing (the most fighting that she had ever done was with her siblings. Certainly not with any weapons!), but if it meant that she was going with them and not being left on her own, then it seemed like a price worth paying. And she certainly did not want another incident like the one with the Orcs.

"I can do that." she smiled. "I'm a fast learner."

Thorin nodded, although he did not as much crack a smile. "Good." He said, walking away back into the living room.

_Right, okay…_she thought to herself, yawning. _Now where do I sleep?_ Bilbo had clearly retreated back into his own room, and she had no idea where she and the others were supposed to sleep. Following Thorin back into the living room, she reclaimed her seat next to Ori, moved a cushion under her head, and quickly drifted off to sleep, hoping she wouldn't get neck cramp in the morning.

* * *

><p><strong>Oh my gosh! It has been so long since my last update and it is definitely not as long as I would like! But I have had so much college work, and arghhh! But I will certainly try to make the next update a lot sooner, and it's finally the start of the journey. At last! I'm a bit iffy near the end, I feel the dwarves are a bit out of character, but alas, can't be helped! :)<strong>

**Please remember to favourite and review! It keeps me writing!**


	7. Let The Journey Begin

Rachael woke up the next morning feeling a lot more comfortable than she had remembered. When she'd fallen asleep, she'd been huddled up into a tight ball at the edge of the sofa with her head lying uncomfortably on the cushion beneath her. Opening her eyes, she now found that she was lying straight on the sofa, taking up the entirety of it and at least two other cushions were beneath her head.

Sighing and sitting up, she moved her legs to the side of the sofa, thanking the stars that she looked down before she set her feet on the floor. Beneath the sofa were Ori, Fili and Kili, and if she'd moved her feet any lower down, she would have stepped on Fili's face. _That would _not _have been a good start to the journey…_she thought. Peering at the crack through the curtains, she saw that it was only just sunrise. This had become a common occurrence in the couple of days she'd travelled with Dwalin, and even when she was at home getting up for school and working on the farm, so she wasn't sure why getting up this morning seemed like such an effort. Perhaps it was because Bilbo's sofa was extremely comfy, or maybe it was because someone had laid a very warm, thick coat over her.

As she didn't know who's it was, and deciding to listen to the growling in her stomach (how she was hungry after the amount she'd eaten the night before was anyone's guess), Rachael lifted her feet back onto the sofa and climbed over the back of the sofa, thankful that Bilbo was still in bed (she didn't think he'd be too thrilled to see her climbing over all of his furniture).

"Mornin' lass." Walking into the kitchen, she was happy to see that she wasn't the only one up; Bombur, Bofur and Balin were huddled in the kitchen watching Bombur cook breakfast.

"Morning." She replied, covering her yawn with the back of her hand. _How is there still food to cook?_ She thought as Bombur started to cook some bacon. _Didn't they eat it all last night?_ "When are we leaving?" she asked, moving to the side when Ori walked into the kitchen.

"Soon, lass. We just need to have breakfast and prepare the ponies and then we're off!" Rachael smiled at the happiness that was clearly in Bofur's voice. It was clear that they were all so happy to go home and she couldn't help but wish she was happy for the same reason. Nevertheless, she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and sat in a lone chair that hadn't been stuffed into the dining room the night before.

"We're going on ponies?" she asked, smiling. On her family's farm they'd owned a couple of horses, and when she wasn't at school, Rachael had taken on the responsibility of looking after them. She may not be able to fight with any weapons, but riding was something she knew how to do. _At least I'll start this journey on a good point._

"Aye, lass." Replied Balin, "We're not going to walk the whole way."

"Oh, thank God!" Rachael took the plate of bacon, eggs and buttered bread from Bombur as the dwarves started laughing. "What? I hate walking! It's like…all I've done for the past few days." Placing her bacon in the bread, Rachael dipped it in the yolk of her egg, savouring the flavour. She had no idea how good the food was going to be when they were travelling, and she was starving anyway.

* * *

><p>By the time Rachael had finished eating (which didn't take long), the remainder of the dwarves had woken up and had formed a very unorganized line leading to Bombur for their own breakfasts. Fili and Kili, who had been some of the last to get up, had somehow managed to get to the front of the line and were now sitting at the table.<p>

Rachael had actually hurried to get out of the kitchen once the others had woken up, knowing that it would soon get very loud and very crowded. Although now she was just loitering around Bilbo's home waiting for them to finish. _I did not think this through, _she thought.

"Are you about ready, Miss Rachael?" she heard Fili ask from behind her. "Uncle says we're to leave soon."

Ignoring the 'Miss' in front of her name (which didn't look as if Fili was going to stop saying any time soon), Rachael turned around to nod. "Yeah, I was just, you know…packing my things." A sad, sad lie. She had no 'things' to pack having lost everything when she'd woken up in the forest. Fili furrowed his eyebrows and looked around.

"Your things?" he asked, confused.

"Okay, so I was just waiting for everyone to finish, okay?" she replied, biting at her bottom lip. "I have no things! I have nothing! Nothing!" She laughed at the expression on Fili's face at her exclamation (honestly, she'd only done it to make herself feel better at having nothing) and patted his arm. "Seriously though, I'm all ready to leave. So Bilbo isn't coming?" Truth be told, she kind of wanted Bilbo to come. It would be nice to have someone come along who was as defenseless as she was. Despite basically promising Thorin that she would not be a burden, she knew she would be even if it was a tiny bit. But she would do her best to be helpful. Of that she was sure.

"It doesn't look like it." Rachael nodded, sighing.

"And what are we talking about over here?" asked Kili, seemingly popping up out of nowhere with a cheeky grin.

"Well aside from commenting on my lack of possessions, Fili was telling me that we're almost ready to leave." Said Rachael, recovering from the shock he'd given her from suddenly appearing.

"Ah." Rachael was vaguely aware of Fili leaving to talk to his uncle, but she didn't focus on it too much due to the fact that Kili's smile was very distracting. _No, no! Bad thoughts! _"That reminds me, as we weren't anticipating you coming with us we have a shortage of ponies, so Gandalf said that you're to ride with me."

Biting her bottom lip again to stop smirking at the thoughts that entered her brain at Kili's words, she opted just to nod her head instead. Honestly, if she had to pick a dwarf to ride with, Kili or Fili would probably have been her first choice anyway. She may have known Dwalin longer, and he may be kinder to her than he had been (maybe not _a lot _kinder, but kinder nonetheless), but he still intimidated her. Fili and Kili looked and acted a lot nicer and she was sure that the journey would be a lot more pleasant in their company; at least until she got to know the others a bit more.

"Okay…that's good. I can do that. I guess." _Curse me and my awkwardness…_she thought as she finished speaking.

"Good. Because it's either me or Fili, and between the two of us, I'm better company." Rachael laughed at the mischievous tone laced into his voice. She wasn't sure whether he was joking about her riding with either him or Fili (perhaps it was because the others were more guarded around new company or perhaps Kili was just joking), but she laughed anyway.

"I'd argue, but I don't think you'd actually listen." She chuckled.

* * *

><p>It was another ten to fifteen minutes by the time the dwarves were packed and ready to go. Rachael didn't really understand why it took them so long to pack (honestly, they'd only stayed for one night. How did their things get scattered into so many places in Bilbo's home?). Thorin seemed to want to waste no more time at the Hobbit's home, so once they were all up and on their ponies- with Rachael feeling very flustered sat in front of Kili- they set off. <em>Looks like Bilbo is definitely not coming.<em>

It was quite relaxing travelling on the ponies. She was lucky that she was used to riding otherwise she was sure that she would feel quite sore by the end of the journey. It also gave her time to properly look at her surroundings as opposed to hurrying along after Dwalin trying to keep up. Everything seemed very…well, she supposed _green _was the word to use. And pretty. Everything around here was very pretty. She was too busy admiring the scenery around her that she'd completely missed what Kili had said.

"I'm sorry, I was miles away. What did you say?" She asked, twisting around to try and face him after a gentle prod to her side.

"I said, do you think that Bilbo will actually come? We're taking bets."

"Oh! I…really don't know." she shrugged. "Besides, I have nothing to bet with anyway." Kili nodded. He should have seen that coming, really. He had, after all, overheard her conversation with his brother about how she had no things at all. And for some reason, that made him sad. All he knew was that she'd been found by Dwalin in the middle of the forest about to be killed by Orcs. How she'd come there, he didn't think even she knew, but he couldn't imagine what I must be like not to have _anything_. Pushing those thoughts to the side, he grinned at her, aware that she was staring at him. "I hope he does come though." She said, once she'd noticed he wasn't saying anything.

"Why?" asked Kili, wondering why she'd want the Hobbit to come.

"I don't know." she shrugged. "I can't really think of a reason. I mean…it would be nice to not be the only one who doesn't know how to fight, I guess…"

"Okay…" Kili chuckled. "But you shouldn't worry about that. We'll train you well."

"Are you all going to train me? Because I don't think that I want to humiliate myself in front of _all _of you." She cringed at the image of her falling flat on her face. _Because let's face it, it's what I'm going to end up doing._

"Don't worry. I'm sure not _everyone _will watch you train. Dwalin will probably be the one to teach you with the sword; him and Uncle taught me and Fili." He paused for a moment. "I can show you how to use a bow as well, if you want." If Rachael didn't know any better, she could have sworn he'd gone a bit shyer when he'd asked that.

"That sounds good. I think I'd prefer a bow to a sword. It definitely sounds easier." _Easier…but definitely not easy._

Just as Kili was about to reply, the company heard a faint voice in the background.

"Wait! Wait!" it cried. As Kili slowed down the pony, Rachael turned around to see Bilbo stumbling along trying to catch up to the company waving a very long piece of parchment. "I signed it!" he cried, walking over to Balin and handing him the contract. Balin studied it for a moment before looking down and smiling at Bilbo.

"Everything appears to be in order." He said, handing the contract back. "Welcome, Master Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield." Rachael smiled as the dwarves cheered, well, all of them of except for Thorin, but she doubted whether he actually cheered for anything.

"Give him a pony." He commanded, before gesturing his pony to move on.

"No!" exclaimed Bilbo, stepping back. "No, no, no, that…that won't be necessary, thank you, but I…I'm sure I can keep up on foot. I…I…I've done my fair share of walking holidays, you know. I even got as far as Frogmorton once…argh!" Rachael giggled, taking the reign of the pony, as Fili and Kili lifted Bilbo up from under his arms so he rested on top of a pony.

"Don't worry, Bilbo." She said, smiling at him. "It's not that bad. Just relax." Bilbo gave her a look, almost as if he was saying 'How could I possibly relax?' and huffed.

Rachael handed the reigns back to Kili (silently liking the feeling of his arms around her, although she would never actually admit it) and listened to the dwarves shouting to one another done the line.

"Come on, Nori, pay up! Go on!" yelled Oin, catching a small bag of coins a few seconds later. Rachael had to duck when several bags were thrown to Kili, who caught them one handed and placed them in the bag at the side of his pony.

"You bet Bilbo would come then?" she asked, smiling.

"Of course." He said, his mouth near her ear. "Call it intuition." Shaking her head, Rachael listened to what Bilbo was asking Gandalf.

"What's that about?" he asked.

"Oh, they took wagers on whether or not you'd turn up." The wizard replied, smiling. "Most of them bet that you wouldn't."

"What did you think?"

There was a pause as Gandalf caught a bag of coins. "My dear fellow, I never doubted you for a second."

"Ohh." Said Bilbo, sneezing. "All this horse hair, I'm having a reaction." Rachael watched as Bilbo rooted around in his pockets, obviously trying to find something that wasn't there.

"Bilbo?" she asked, as he looked up in shock.

"No, no, wait, wait, stop!" he cried, causing the entire company to come to a halt. "Stop! We have to turn around!"

"What on earth is the matter?" asked Gandalf.

"I forgot my handkerchief."

"You have got to be kidding me." Muttered Rachael, tossing her head back before pulling forward again when it hit Kili's chest.

"Here, use this!" shouted Bofur, tossing Bilbo a strip of cloth that he'd torn from his clothing.

"Move on." Commanded Thorin as Bilbo stared at the material in disgust.

"You'll have to manage without pocket-handkerchiefs and a good many other things, Bilbo Baggins, before we reach our journey's end. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is behind you; the world is ahead."

* * *

><p><strong>Yay! They've finally set off! And let the journey begin!<strong>

**Remember to review and favourite! :)**


	8. Of Home and Orcs

It seemed to Rachael that Gandalf's little speech didn't do much for the Hobbit's mood. In fact, he seemed even more withdrawn and she wasn't doubting the fact that he was probably regretting ever running out of his door. To be honest, she didn't blame him. It was clear that him chasing after them was a spur of the moment thing; that he hadn't actually thought it all through properly and she found herself realising she'd done the same thing.

She'd asked to go with them not realising what it was going to be like travelling with thirteen men, and dwarves at that. Privacy was going to be a hard thing to come by.

Kili, who had been laughing and joking with his brother, looked down to see Rachael deep in thought. She had one hand absent-mindedly scratching her neck whilst the other was running its fingers through the pony's mane. Peering around slightly so he could see her face, he saw that she was frowning with slightly wide eyes.

"Rachael?" he asked, giving her a little prod to the side. "Are you okay? You're very quiet."

Clearing her throat, Rachael nodded and turned her head to look at Kili. "Yeah, sorry. Just…thinking. I do that I lot, you may notice." She furrowed her eyebrows again before talking, as if deliberating whether to say something or not. "You know when they were saying that your homeland is called the Lonely Mountain?"

"Erebor, yes." Kili nodded.

"Does that mean that you lived _in _the mountain?"

Kili chuckled sending vibrations through Rachael's body. "Indeed. Although me and my brother were born after Smaug came so I have never actually seen inside it. The only thing I know about it is what I've been told about by Thorin and my mother."

"But…isn't it a bit dark in a mountain?" She couldn't fathom the idea of actually living _in _a mountain. Where was the sunlight? The trees?

"Yes…" replied Kili. "It's what Dwarves are used to, I suppose. We were made to live in the mountains."

Nodding her head, Rachael remained silent. She couldn't imagine living in a mountain; it just seemed dark and depressing…_but hey, live and let live and what not_, she thought. _It must be somewhere nice if we're going to reclaim it from a _dragon.

* * *

><p>It was a relief for Rachael when they stopped to make camp that night. Her legs were aching from not being able to stretch them for hours while riding the pony and it was needless to say, she <em>really <em>needed the loo. She hadn't wanted the company to keep stopping just because she couldn't hold it in, so to speak. Taking Kili's hand to help her off of the pony (not that she needed his help, but she wasn't about to tell _him_ that) she gave him a smile and skipped over to hide behind the corner of the cliff to do her 'business'.

"So, we're stopping here then?" she asked, coming back. They were on the edge of a cliff, and while heights didn't normally bother her, she was quite conscious that she would roll off of the edge in her sleep.

"Indeed we are, Miss Rachael." Replied Fili, tying his pony to a nearby branch. "Is that a problem?"

"A problem?" She shook her head. "No, no…I was just wondering…what if I roll off the side in my sleep?"

"Well then, I suggest you sleep away from the edge then. Besides, I'm sure my dear brother would leap at the chance to save you."

Blushing as Kili hit his brother in the head, Rachael wondered over to the edge of the cliff and leant against it. Bombur had set his cooking equipment up at the side of the fire which was now lit, and Rachael could feel her stomach grumble as she watched him.

It was dark by the time the food was finally ready and Rachael had found herself sitting with Fili and Kili; something which was becoming something of a habit, she'd found. Not that she was complaining- they were good company and definitely not hard on the eyes.

"So, Miss Rachael." She rolled her eyes at the 'Miss'. Fili was never going to quit calling her that, she could just tell. "What did you do back home?"

"Well…" she ate a spoonful of the stew she'd been given before continuing. "I lived on a farm with my family. I left school last year so I work on the farm now doing…various things. It wasn't much, but it was home…"

Kili listened as she spoke, already finishing his stew in a couple of minutes. "Do you miss it?" he interrupted.

"Miss what? My home?" She furrowed her eyebrows. "Yes. It's only been a few days, but yes, I miss it a lot. I've never actually been away from home for longer than a few days. I'm trying not think about it…it doesn't look like anyone here has even _heard _of where I come from, so I doubt I'll be going back any time soon. So…" she shrugged her shoulders. "…I guess you're stuck with me."

"You say that like that's a bad thing." Replied Kili.

"Trust me, after a few weeks, you'll probably agree." Rachael said, chuckling awkwardly.

"I find that hard to believe." Watching the two people sat opposite, Fili smirked as Rachael blushed. His brother was _so _obvious.

"I'll just take these bowls back." He said, retrieving his brother's bowl as he stood up. "Are you done with yours, Miss Rachael?"

Looking down at her half full bowl, she shook her head as Fili walked away. "Urm…do you know what he was smirking about?"

"No idea." Kili shook his head.

"Do you…" She paused. "Do you miss home?"

Kili shrugged. "A bit. I miss my mother most of all, but other than that…"

"What…what about your father?"

"He died just after I was born."

Rachael looked down. Great, she just _had _to stick her foot in it. "Oh god, Kili…sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"It's fine. Really, it was a long time ago."

"That doesn't make it any better. I can't imagine growing up without my dad." She took a moment to finish the rest of her stew before speaking again. "This conversation got very depressing very quickly, didn't it?"

"I think so. Hey, why don't I help you train tomorrow?" He couldn't help the bubble of excitement that he felt when he thought about that. The idea of it being just her and him as he helped her with a bow was enough to make him fight off a smile, though he had no real reason why that he could think of (or that he allowed himself to think of anyway).

"With my archery?" she asked.

"If you want."

"Okay then. Yeah! That would be great! But if I accidentally shoot you in the foot, don't blame me."

* * *

><p>It was much later that the company rolled out their bedrolls to go to sleep. Rachael, who obviously had no bedroll, sighed and laid down at the side of the cliff where she'd previously been sitting. The ground was a lot harder than the forest floor she'd slept on previously, and <em>definitely<em> harder than Bilbo's couch.

"Rachael." Leaning up on her elbows, she saw Kili standing over her with a bedroll in his hands. "Here."

"Kili, I can't take this. Is this yours?"

"Yes. Well, it's my spare. I'm keeping watch tonight with Fili so I wouldn't need mine anyway. Keep it." he said, seeing that she was about to protest. "It will keep you warm." He moved to turn around and sit down next to his brother before turning to face her again. "And if you do move to roll off of the edge in your sleep, I'll stop you." Fighting to overcome the blush spreading on her cheeks and willing herself not to look like a walking tomato, Rachael hurried to unravel her new bedroll and get to sleep.

Sleep, however, was quite hard to come by. Back at Bilbo's, she hadn't noticed how tired she'd been until she was actually asleep. Therefore, she hadn't noticed how incredibly _loud_ some of the dwarves were when sleeping. She'd thought her brother's snoring was bad, but Bombur definitely won that competition. It was a wonder all of the nightlife hadn't run for the hills. His snoring seemed almost deafening in the silence and seemed to echo.

Gloin, however, had opted for a more silent way of sleeping. However, his way including tiny insects to be sucked into his mouth every time he breathed in and to be sucked out every time he breathed out. If it wasn't so disgusting, Rachael would have been quite fascinated by it.

"Hello girl." She heard Bilbo whisper from not very far away. Twisting around, she saw him standing next to the pony he had been riding, looking around to see if anyone was watching as he fed it an apple. "That's a good girl. It's our little secret, Myrtle; you must tell no one. Shh, shh." Stifling a laugh, Rachael's eyes widened as a scream echoed in the distance. "What was that?"

Knowing that she would dread the answer, Rachael sat up and inched closer to where Fili and Kili were sitting. They had the weapons after all.

"Orcs." Replied Kili. Rachael's hand went up to her neck. She remembered the ones that she had met in the forest a few days ago. They were big, mean and obviously had no problem attacking anything they came across if her situation was anything to go by. Needless to say, she was pretty scared; her breathing came out in shallow breaths as another scream was heard.

"Orcs?" squeaked Bilbo.

"Throat-cutters." Said Fili, lowly. "There'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them."

"They strike in the wee small hours, when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet; no screams, just lots of blood."

Rachael could feel the tears on her cheeks before she actually noticed she'd started crying. Rubbing angrily at them, cursing herself internally for seeming weak in front of the others. She was _fine_, and the others were here should anything actually happen. However she still jumped slightly as Thorin's voice was heard.

"You think that's funny?" he snapped, standing over his nephews. "You think a night raid by Orcs is a joke?"

"We didn't mean anything by it." mumbled Kili.

"No, you didn't. You know nothing of the world."

Rachael locked eyes with Kili as Balin told the company of the Battle of Azanulbizar. Turning her back so she was facing away from him, Rachael tried to listen to the story. However it was hard as she thought about those _things _out there.

"Rachael…" Not meeting his eyes, Rachael gave him a weak smile before leaning her head on the wall. There was no way she'd be able to sleep now. "Rach…I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize."

"I do. I forgot that you'd…encountered Orcs before." She shivered as he lifted his hand to trace the cut on her neck, quickly moving his hand away when he realised what he was doing. "We…I shouldn't have scared you like that."

"You didn't scare me! Much…" she gave him a crooked grin before returning to a straight face. "I've never been in that situation before, where I thought that I was going to…I just, really don't like Orcs very much, that's all."

"I don't think anyone really does." Kili replied, smirking. "Come here." Rachael gave him a confused look. "I'm going to protect you." Shaking her head and blushing (_again_! _I really need to stop blushing around this Dwarf_), Rachael shuffled her bedroll the metre to where Kili had sat and lay down. Closing her eyes, she could hear the lasting moments of Balin's tale as Bilbo asked him a question.

"But the pale Orc? What happened to him?"

"He slunk back into the hole whence he came." Growled Thorin, standing on the edge of the cliff. "That filth died of his wounds long ago."

Closing her eyes, it wasn't long before Rachael finally gave in to sleep in the moments when the snoring had stopped.

* * *

><p>Waking up the next morning, Rachael was surprised to find her head in Kili's lap. Careful not to cause too much movement, she carefully lifted herself up and sat against the rock.<p>

"_Morning!_" Wincing at the voice, she turned her head slowly to see Fili grinning down at her with two bowls of porridge in his hands. "Have a nice sleep?"

"Shut up." She mumbled, taking a bowl from Fili's hands.

"All I'm saying is you looked very comfortable with my brother…I'm sure any of the others can agree."

"Please, I barely know him!" She replied, embarrassed at the fact that the others had seen her sleeping like that as well. _Well isn't this journey going well so far…_

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, it…"

"Is that breakfast?" Snapping her head to the side at Kili's voice, Rachael was suddenly very preoccupied with her own breakfast. "What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing! Right, Miss Rachael?"

"Right…" she mumbled.

"Everyone pack up!" Thorin yelled. "We leave in fifteen minutes." Rachael sighed. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

><p>AN: and so, chapter eight is up! I don't know how frequent the updates will be due to my college schedule but I will aim for at least one every two weeks, hopefully more!

I hope this chapter is reasonably good, it was absolute _hell_ to write and my mind has been completely out of it since about Christmas time.

Feel free to drop a review or favourite, or…well, whatever really! :) Thanks for reading! You guys are the best!


	9. Rain Sucks, Training Sucks

Rachael had to rush to finish her breakfast. Compared to the others in the company (except perhaps, Bilbo and Gandalf, and occasionally Thorin), she felt like a very slow eater. Everyone else had finished their porridge by the time she was half way through hers and she had to rush to finish so she had time to talk to Gandalf before setting off. She hadn't spoken to the wizard, but she thought that if anyone knew _anything _about her situation, he would. The others seemed to listen to him, anyway, so she figured he must know what he's talking about.

"Ex…excuse me, Mr. Gandalf, sir?" she asked, walking up to him. He'd been sitting on a rock, absentmindedly smoking his pipe (which he did a lot, she'd noticed). "I was wondering if I could…ask you something?" Encouraged at his nod, she spoke. "Well, you know…where I come from, I'm guessing? You heard me tell the others?"

"I did indeed, my dear." Replied the Wizard, blowing a smoke ring into the air.

"I was wondering, could you send me back? Home? Are you able to?"

There was a brief pause in which Gandalf studied the girl stood in front of him. "I'm afraid not."

Rachael looked down. "Yeah, I thought that would be the answer. It was a long shot anyway." She turned to walk away before asking another question. "Do you know why I'm here then?"

"I would have to hazard a guess…that the Valar brought you here." He took another puff on his pipe.

"Right…and what are the Valar?"

"The Valar are the powers of Arda who shaped and rule the world." Replied Gandalf.

"So, like Gods then?" asked Rachael, cocking her head to the side.

"You would probably call them that, yes." Gandalf paused again, staring off into the distance. "Perhaps you were brought here to help on this quest." Nodding when she realised he wasn't going to say anymore, and now very confused, Rachael turned back to where the others were waiting with the ponies. How the hell was she supposed to help on this quest? She couldn't fight, she didn't know anything about this world, and would probably end up being a burden for this entire thing. Thorin didn't seem entirely thrilled that she was here. He hadn't said anything to her, but he didn't look very pleased. Although at least he wasn't sending her harsh looks like he was sending occasionally to Bilbo. She had no idea what he'd done wrong, but she didn't envy the poor Hobbit.

She felt especially awkward as she pulled herself up onto Kili's pony. She couldn't look him in the eye since she woke up (although she _had _to admit, she'd been quite comfy) and Fili wasn't making it any better with all of his smirks and winks he sent her way. _Stupid Dwarf._

"Are you okay?" she heard Kili ask from behind her as they set off. "You've barely said anything to me since you got up."

"I'm fine." She replied, giving a brief smile.

Rachael's partially good mood did not last for long. About an hour in to their journey, it seemed like the heavens had opened as everyone got soaked to the bone. Rachael cursed under her breath. The rain was cold, wet, and she was utterly miserable. Her clothes didn't help much either. Her t-shirt, shirt and leggings were soaked through and she had no coat meaning that her hair was dripping wet as well. _It is going to be absolute hell_ _to comb through after this._ The only relatively dry part of her body was her feet. She internally thanked her sister for buying her boots while trying to fight the shivers that rocked her body.

After another shudder, Rachael found something warm and heavy wrap around her shoulders. Looking down, she saw that Kili had taken off his own coat and given it to her.

"K…Kili, I can't t…take this. You'll get c…cold." She said, trying to shrug it off her.

"You can, and you will." Replied Kili, forcefully. "Dwarves don't feel the cold as much as humans do. I'll be fine. Besides, I think you'll fall of the pony at the rate you're shivering. Those clothes don't do much to keep you warm."

"But I…"

"Lift your arms up." Giving in, Rachael lifted her arms up and allowed him to put them through the sleeves of the coat, giving her more protection from the wind and rain. Pulling the front together and lifting the hood up, she twisted round on the pony (which was rather difficult) and gave Kili a smile.  
>"Thank you." she said, moving back around again. Kili's coat was far too big for her. Although Kili was only a tiny bit taller than her, he was a lot wider than she was. But his coat was comfy, warm and smelled like him (something that she tried to ignore).<p>

The rain didn't seem to let up as they continued. For three days the rain kept falling, on and off. They were lucky in the fact that they'd found shelter for the night but it was clear that they were all getting sick of being cold and wet. Even Bofur's mood seemed to be down as rain dripped down from his hat.

Kili had made Rachael keep his coat for all of the time it had been raining. He'd insisted that his remaining clothes kept him warm enough, his cloak kept him dry enough and that she should just worry about herself. She didn't know why he seemed so concerned about her- perhaps all dwarves were protective around females or something? But whatever it was, she was thankful for it, nevertheless. His coat was doing a very good job of keeping her warm, both on the pony and at night.

"Here, Mr. Gandalf." Said Dori on their fourth day travelling in the rain. "Can't you do something about this deluge?"

"It is raining, Master Dwarf." Replied the wizard. "And it will continue to rain until the rain is done. If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another wizard."

"Well that's helpful…" Rachael mumbled causing Kili, who was the only one who had heard, to chuckle.

"Are there any?" asked Bilbo.

"What?" replied Gandalf.

"Other wizards?"

"There are five of us. The greatest of our order is Saruman, the White. Then there are the two Blue Wizards; you know, I've quite forgotten their names."

"And who is the fifth?"

"Well, that would be Radagast, the Brown."

"Imaginative names…" said Rachael.

"Is he a great wizard or is he…more like you?" asked Bilbo, causing Rachael to snort.

"I think he's a very great wizard, in his own way." Replied Gandalf, sounding slightly offended. "He's a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others. He keeps a watchful eye over the vast forest lands to the East, and a good thing too, for always Evil will look to find a foothold in this world."

* * *

><p>Rachael could have cried out for joy when it stopped raining later that day. The Sun had come out and the wind had stopped allowing the good mood of the company to come back. Rachael undid the front of Kili's coat as they continued riding, but kept the actual coat on. Kili would want his own clothes to dry after all, and a coat wouldn't help that. Those were her reasons for it anyway.<p>

They stopped that night in front of an old, abandoned farmhouse.

"We'll camp here for the night." Ordered Thorin, getting down from his pony. "Fili, Kili, look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them."

"A farmer and his family used to live here." Said Gandalf as Rachael slid down with Kili.

"Oin, Gloin." Said Thorin, ignoring the wizard.

"Aye?"

"Get a fire going."

"Right you are."

Deciding to ignore Thorin and Gandalf, who looked like they were going to get into an argument (and Rachael thought it wise not to be caught in the middle of that), Rachael decided to wander over to where Bofur and Bilbo were sitting.

"Hello, lass." Greeted Bofur. "Finally dried off, eh?"

"Yeah…I don't think I've ever seen it rain that much. Ever." She laughed. "I don't like this place. It seems…creepy."

"Creepy?"

"Yeah, don't you know what I mean? Like…an abandoned haunted house or something. I don't know!" She said as she looked at Bofur's amused looking face. "It's been a long day."

"Everything alright?" Rachael heard Bilbo say, standing up. "Gandalf, where are you going?"

"To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense."

"Who's that?"

"Myself, Mr. Baggins! I've had enough of dwarves for one day!"

"Well that was a bit insulting." Said Rachael, seeing Gandalf's bad mood echoed on Thorin's face on the other side of the camp as the wizard stormed away.

"Come on, Bombur, we're hungry." Rachael heard Thorin snap.

"Is he coming back?" Bilbo asked Balin. Balin gave the Hobbit a doubtful look.

Rachael was perfectly content to lie back and listen to Bofur's endless stories as she waited for Bombur to finish dinner. Dwalin, however, seemed to have a different idea.

"Come on lass, up. You've got training to do." He grunted, peering down at her.

"Training? Now?" she asked.

"Why not now?"

"Well…I don't know." Heaving herself to her feet, she sighed and followed Dwalin over to an empty part of the camp.

"Here, take this." Looking towards Dwalin, she saw him hold out a sword. Reaching out to take the handle, Rachael cursed as she almost dropped it.

"How the hell am I supposed to use this? It's heavy! Who's sword is this anyway?"

"It's one of Fili's, and it's either that or get killed so you better stop complaining." Retorted Dwalin bluntly. Rachael's eyes widened and she took a step back. "I didn't mean it like that, lass. Come on, let's get started."

* * *

><p>"Dwalin, can we <em>please <em>stop! My arms feel like they're going to drop off." They'd been at it for at least half an hour. An agonizing half hour where Rachael had been shouted at, leapt at with a sword and not forgetting the various times she'd ended up on the floor. If this was the first session, she dreaded the future ones. She was sure she would enjoy archery lessons with Kili a lot more, and not _just _because it was him teaching her. It seemed a lot less painful than this, to be sure.

He'd spent a few minutes once they'd started showing her the basic stance and moves that she needed to know; defence moves, attacking moves, where she needed to move her feet. Dwalin had called her attempts 'barely passable' but eventually allowed her to move on. Something that had greatly relieved Rachael, although she had no idea why a minute later. She'd block and block and block, but the result was always the same: knocked back onto the ground with Dwalin's sword pressed to her chest. Needless to say it would take a few more sessions until she would be anything close to adequate.

"Dinner's ready!" shouted Bombur, causing Rachael to drop the sword to the ground with a crash. Running over to Bombur in an attempt to get away from Dwalin and towards the food, Rachael managed to get there just as Bilbo did. She'd seen Bilbo watching her and Dwalin (well, most of the other Dwarves did for five minutes or so before wandering off). His winces and choruses of 'ooh's' and 'ow's' certainly hadn't helped. "Here ya go, lassie." Said Bombur, handing her a bowl of soup. "Here, would you mind taking these to the lads watching the ponies?"

"What? Oh, sure thing! No problem." Smiled Rachael, taking two bowls of soup; one for her and the other for either Fili or Kili. She saw Bilbo do the same. "I am going to be so sore in the morning." She said to Bilbo as they walked away from the main part of the camp.

"Yes…I'm certainly glad that I will not be training." Replied the Hobbit, giving her a pitied look.

"Why won't you be training?" Rachael asked.

"Well I…I'm just the burglar I guess. And pretty hopeless at fighting let me tell you! The others probably know that, I suppose." The Hobbit chuckled awkwardly.

"Oh…well you're definitely right to be glad about not training. I'm beginning to think that Dwalin hates me!"

Fili and Kili weren't far. Rachael and Bilbo had only been walking for about a minute before they saw the backs of the two brothers.

"Fili? Kili?" said Rachael, trying to get their attention to no avail. "Guys?"

"What's the matter?" asked Bilbo.

"We're supposed to be looking after the ponies." Said Kili, glancing over at Rachael as she went to stand next to him.

"Only we've encountered a slight problem." Continued Fili.

"We had sixteen."

"Now there's fourteen."

"Daisy and Bungo are missing."

"How do you_ loose_ two ponies?" asked Rachael, putting down the bowls of soup on a nearby rock.

"Well we didn't do it deliberately." Muttered Fili, looking over at the remaining ponies.

"This isn't good." Said Bilbo, looking around. "This is not good at all. Shouldn't we tell Thorin?"

"Uhh, no." said Fili. "Let's not…let's not worry him. As our official burglar, we thought you might like to look into it."

Bilbo's eyebrows shot up before he nodded. "Well, uh…some…something big uprooted these trees."

"That was our thinking." Agreed Kili.

"Something very big, and possibly quite dangerous." Shifting closer to Kili (and partially wishing she'd actually kept the sword instead of throwing it to the ground), Rachael glanced around wearily.

"Hey!" exclaimed Fili, pointing over to a gap through some trees. "There's a light. Over here! Stay down." Crouching down and running over to a fallen log, Rachael looked into the distance to see a fire as the source of the light.

"What is it?" she asked, almost laughing as she saw that Bilbo had still not put down the two bowls of soup.

"Trolls." Muttered Kili, in a low voice.

"Is that bad?"

"It's bad."

Running after the others, who were creeping forward towards the fire and therefore towards the trolls, she was about to ask what was making them look so panicked when she was slammed into the trunk of a tree.

"What the…?"

"Shhh!" Looking in front of her, Rachael was shocked to see Kili's face inches from her own, his eyes wide. _He has really nice eyes, like the colour of a forest…wait no! _Breathing deeply, she looked to the side to see a huge, grey-skinned creature stomp past them, two ponies tucked under its arms.

"Is that a troll?" she whispered as Kili stepped back. Kili nodded slowly.

"He's got Myrtle and Minty!" exclaimed Bilbo, running up to them. "I think they're going to eat them, we have to do something."

"Yes…" said Kili, giving Bilbo a strange look. "You should. Mountain Trolls are slow and stupid, and you're so small."

"N…n…no…" stuttered the Hobbit, weakly.

"They'll never see you!"

"No, no, no…"

"It's perfectly safe! We'll be right behind you." insisted Kili, much to the shock of Rachael. Was he seriously insisting that Bilbo go up against that _huge _troll? She'd literally _just _had a conversation with him on how he couldn't fight. He wouldn't stand a chance!

"If you run into trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl, once like a brown owl." Added Fili, pushing Bilbo towards the fire.

"Are you two mad?" asked Rachael as they began to drag her away back towards the camp. "He'll get eaten alive back there! We can't just leave him!"

"We're not leaving him." said Kili, who was the one holding her hand and pulling her away. "We're just going back to camp, and then we're going to tell Thorin. Don't worry."

"Oh yeah? Don't worry, huh? And how do you think Thorin's going to react when you tell him you've lost about four ponies?" She saw the brothers exchange nervous glances. "Ah! _Now _you're worried!"

* * *

><p>AN: Aren't you all so happy I got home early from college and managed to whip this up! Screw an update in two weeks! Haha! I'm so glad you are all enjoying this story so far, and I'm really enjoying writing it.

I look forward to hearing your views on what you want to happen (who knows, I may actually include it), so make sure to favourite and review! I love you all, readers! :D


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